


Bounty Hunter

by BettyHT



Series: Janes [1]
Category: Bonanza
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2019-07-29 23:01:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 25,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16274156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BettyHT/pseuds/BettyHT
Summary: Consequences from an incident on a trip taken by Adam and Joe years earlier embroils the brothers in a tense drama, and kindness shown in that earlier effort is the source of their only hope of survival.  First in a series of three stories:  Chasing the Wind is next followed by Weep For Me, and Rejoice With Me.





	Bounty Hunter

Bounty Hunter

Chapter 1

Looking around, Gene Brown guessed that there were probably three or four people in that saloon that he wouldn't mind killing. The world would likely be a better place without them. Then he gazed at the other men in the room and wondered if any of them thought the same. If they did and made different choices than he had made, then no one was likely to walk out of there alive that day if they gave in to that desire to purge the world of undesirables. There was one man there though who was probably not on anyone's list. He wore all black with his gunbelt hanging low like he was probably deadly with it if he needed to be although he had the look of a man who preferred intimidation to outright mayhem although his reputation was of a man who had killed often. For a number of reasons, the bounty hunter found it very strange that this was the man who was his target, but five thousand dollars was a lot of money to deliver him to a town only three hundred miles away. Men were respectful to him in a friendly way without being overly warm. The ladies now were an entirely different matter entirely doing their best to get his attention but having to be satisfied with that grin and pleasant words. It was clear that he wasn't one to be easily seduced by the charms or enticements offered so easily. For over a week, the bounty hunter had been in town studying him by listening, asking a few questions when the opportunity presented itself without being too obvious, and by reading newspapers. He had a fairly good idea of what he was facing in trying to take him by himself, but he had a plan slowly germinating as to how that could be done. It wasn't going to be on this day when his target was there with his two brothers, but on Thursdays, the quarry came into town to pick up money for the Ponderosa payroll and to get supplies. The bounty hunter hadn't asked many questions but the few he had asked had yielded valuable information. The target would be in town early. If he took him before he reached town and immediately headed toward California, no one would even know he was missing for at least six to eight hours. Then they would have to find where he was waylaid, and by then it would be getting dark. The two of them and that wagon could be well on their way and lost in the traffic on the busy route to California. He guessed the plan could work well. It had better work or he might be spending some time in a Nevada jail trying to explain why a bounty hunter had tried to kidnap the son of one of the wealthiest men in the west.

Leaning against the bar with his elbows on it as his hands dangled and his back rested against the polished wood, Adam Cartwright surveyed the room as was his habit anytime he was in the saloon. Next to him, Hoss stood and leaned sideways on the bar drinking his beer and watching their younger brother make the rounds of the room. They had brought in a man injured on the job and stopped in for a beer. That had turned in to two beers but they both knew that they had to leave after that or face their father's stern disapproval when they returned home. Even at their ages, they didn't like to see those eyebrows lowered and that finger come pointing in their direction.

"Notice the one in the back corner with the slouch hat pulled low?"

"Now you would be the one to be paying attention to a no count drifter when there's all these pretty gals trying to get your attention."

"He's been watching us."

"Huh? Why you think so?"

"I have no idea why."

"No, I mean why d'ya think he is, or I mean how come you think, oh damn, what makes you think that?"

"His eyes circle around the room and always come back here. It's like he doesn't want anyone to notice he's watching us, but he is." Adam turned slowly to finish his beer and got Sam's attention. The bartender moved close as Adam spoke softly. "The man in the slouch hat: know anything about him?"

"No, nothing much, except the only questions I've heard him ask other than about where to eat are about you. He only asked a couple in the last week, but it's the kind of thing that get's my attention."

"Thanks, Sam." Adam pushed over money to pay for the beer and some extra that made Sam smile. Adam always took good care of his friends. As Adam pushed away from the bar, Hoss asked where he was going. "To see Roy. Meet me at the horses in fifteen. That ought to be enough time for you to have another beer." Dropping another coin on the bar to pay for the beer, Adam had Hoss smiling too. He headed out of the saloon then as Hoss paid some attention to the man in the slouch hat. He looked back at Sam when Adam was gone.

"Dadburnit, he's right. The man is watching him. Now, I gotta wonder why. You keep a good eye on him for us, will ya, Sam?" Hoss was going to pull out some money, but Sam said that Adam had already taken care of that. "Good, I'm gonna finish my beer and collect my little brother then. Be seeing ya, Sam." Hoss drained his beer in one long gulp and then did as he said he would despite Little Joe's protests that he needed a few more minutes with the gal he was trying his best to charm. Hoss didn't listen, and Little Joe was no match for his big brother's arm pulling him out of the saloon. When they got to the horses, Adam wasn't there.

"See, you pulled me out of the saloon for nothing. Adam isn't even here."

"Now, Joe, you see here. Adam had some important business to see about."

"Like what?"

"Well, there was a man in the saloon watching us, and Sam said he's asked a few questions about Adam." Even as he said it, Hoss realized that it was a rather flimsy story, but like Adam and Sam, he had gotten a funny feeling about that man in the saloon and about his questions. He was ready though for Joe's response.

"A man was looking at you and asked a couple of questions. Jeez, Hoss, if that's all it took, we'd never come to town. Adam is getting kinda jumpy for some reason, isn't he?"

"I don't know, Joe. I saw the man too, and it made me feel kinda on edge too."

"You're getting as bad as he is. The two of you are getting old fast."

"Now Joe, don't go talkin' like that. You know how that riles me up."

"Yeah, and Adam too, but it works better with him. I get my way by using it."

Hoss had to smile at that. Little Joe had a way of working all of them to get his way especially that puppy dog look with their father. He had to smile but lost it as he saw Adam approaching with that stiff walk that pronounced that he was angry. It didn't take long to find out why.

"Roy's been watching him too. Seems he's been over at the Enterprise reading old newspaper articles on us especially on me. Apparently he's studying us for some reason. When Roy asked, he didn't give an answer but said he was curious and had nothing better to do at the moment. Nothing he's done is illegal or even close to it so there's nothing Roy can do, but we better watch our backs. Something is up."

Joe had one theory. "We've got that big contract bid coming up with the railroads. You don't think it could be related to that, do you? Pa would be very upset if we lost that bid. You were supposed to be leaving soon to take the final offer to them, weren't you?"

Hoss had another. "We're almost ready for the fall drive too. Maybe somebody wants to do something to stop us from doing that. I mean it's not that important and we could put it off, but it would be nice to have that extra cash over the winter."

"Yes, especially if we lose out on the railroad contract. If we lose both, things could be tight. Maybe you two are on to something. Let's get home and talk to Pa about it. Maybe he'll have a take on it."

As the three brothers rode out of town, the bounty hunter knew that he had to do something to shift concern away from himself. He decided there was only one thing that would work. He went to the hotel, packed up his belongings, and checked out. He made sure that Sheriff Coffee saw him leaving and guessed correctly that the sheriff would be at the livery stable wondering why before he was able to ride out.

"Well, it seems that I've done about all I can do in this town. I've decided to head on over to Carson City to see if they've got any action or maybe I'll go further down the road. There's more action in Colorado than here in Nevada for a man in my line of work. I've usually worked out of Denver, but I've still got some money from my last job so there's no rush to go after anyone yet."

"So what brought you to Virginia City then?"

"My last job was to bring in a man to California. I was heading back and decided to lay over for a bit."

"And now you're moving on."

"That's right."

"Well, I won't keep you then. Safe travels to ya."

It was clear that Sheriff Coffee was glad to see the bounty hunter go. He rode out of town in the direction of Carson City and rode that way for several miles before he headed cross-country toward the Ponderosa to make a cold camp along the road to town. He guessed that he had one shot at Adam Cartwright. If he didn't get him the next morning, he would probably have to give up on this one and let one of the others get him. He didn't know how many of those posters had been mailed out, but knew it had to be at least a half dozen. The man who had sent out those wanted posters was driven and would want to make sure there were enough men in the hunt that at least one of them would be successful.

The bounty hunter made his preparations and then settled in with a blanket for a relatively uncomfortable night. He had spent worse nights though so the cold and the hard rough surface of the boulder that he rested against were minor problems. Thinking about the money was enough incentive to make him forget discomfort. He was to collect five thousand upon delivery and there was the promise of another five thousand if the trial and sentence was carried out. He didn't feel any guilt about that either. He had read the story of what had happened in Barrow, and it seemed cut and dried to him. After baiting a young man into a fight, he had drawn on him when he wasn't looking and shot him down in the street as if he was no better than a cur. Brown had done his research in Virginia City too. Adam Cartwright had twice been jailed for murder and had been released each time. There was some talk that he had faced similar problems in other towns and gotten out of those charges too. As far as Brown was concerned, it was a rich man buying his way out of facing justice. He had seen it all too often. If he could make things right and get paid for it too, then he would sleep well at night with no regrets. He was ready to take the man the next day and head for Barrow and the best payday he had ever had as a bounty hunter.

Chapter 2

Flashbacks came slowly and in bits and pieces until he finally had the whole memory. It was a trip to get horses. They had stopped in a small town in California with four horses they had purchased. While in the saloon in Barrow, Joe had insisted on playing poker despite Adam's misgivings about getting involved in any potentially troublesome activity in a town in which they knew no one. As usual, Joe ignored his advice.

"Adam, you say the same thing in nearly every place we stop. All you ever want is a bath, a good meal, and a warm soft bed. It's like I'm traveling with Pa. How old are you, anyway?" Joe knew how much that irritated Adam, but he also was aware that Adam would give in to what he wanted when he used that jibe. It worked every time. Grinning as he looked away from Adam and toward the bartender, Joe winked at a pretty girl working in the saloon. She smiled at him but that drew the ire of a young man at the bar.

"Jane, leave him alone. He'll be gone by tomorrow. You know better than to have truck with strangers."

"Billy Barrow, I can talk to anybody I please. It's my job to entertain the customers so you can let me be."

Of course, the interchange hadn't stopped with those challenges. Billy stepped up to pull Jane away from Joe.

"Stop that, Billy. You're hurting me."

"I'll hurt you a lot more if you don't do as I say."

Of course Joe took offense at anyone treating a woman that way. He objected, and Billy took a swing at him. Joe ducked and swung back, and the fight was on. The two fought without interference for only about two minutes with Joe clearly the better fighter. It was over when Billy fell stunned and didn't get up. Adam took Joe's arm.

"It's over. Let's get out of here."

"I didn't finish my beer."

"Joe, his last name is the same as this town." Adam let that bit of information sink in for a moment until realization hit. Even with his temper up because of the fight, Joe knew there was potentially a lot of trouble for them in this town. He looked at Jane.

"Sorry, miss, but we have to be going. I wish my brother and me could stay and make sure no one else bothered you, but I'm afraid we need to leave town now."

"Thank you. No one ever helped me like you and your brother did. I wish you didn't have to go."

"Miss, I'm sorry, but Joe is right. We do have to go. If you want us to help you leave here, we'd be happy to oblige, but other than that, I'm afraid we need to take our leave now."

Amazed at that offer Adam made, Jane would spend years regretting not accepting immediately. Instead, she hesitated and spent those years stuck in that town unable to leave. The next time she saw Adam and Joe, she was going to make an entirely different kind of decision. However on that day, she turned back to help Billy thinking that was the safest route to follow. After a few minutes, Billy roused and asked where the two strangers had gone.

Out on the street, Adam had helped Joe who was suffering a bit from the fight. Joe had pulled off his gunbelt and hung it on his saddle. He pulled off his shirt and splashed water from a horse trough pump across his head and chest.

"You've got some nasty bruising there, little brother. Let me see those ribs."

"I'm fine, Adam. If the ribs were busted, I think I'd know. They hurt, but it's nothing too bad. I'll be all right." Then with a mischievous glint in his eye, he couldn't help taking another verbal jab at his oldest brother. "I might ride like you now though like I'm all stiff and old."

Rolling his eyes, Adam told Joe to hurry up and grab a clean shirt so they could ride out before anyone thought to detain them. It was then that Billy came out of the saloon to call Joe out except he didn't give him time to get his gun. Adam yelled that Joe didn't have a gun.

"All the better then. I can't lose."

Billy drew then intending to shoot Joe down where he stood. Adam couldn't let him do that and drew on him shooting him in the leg and knocking him down. Swearing, Billy turned to fire at Adam then who had no choice but to fire once more. That shot hit Billy in the side of the chest as he scrambled on the ground trying to aim at Adam. He didn't die then, but from the color and amount of the blood, it was clear that he had been hit fatally. As the blood pumped from him, he desperately tried to staunch the flow holding his hands to his chest and moaning piteously. There was nothing that anyone could do as everyone stood and watched Billy Barrow die in the dirt of the main street of the town named for his family. Adam stood with them as his smoking pistol hung in his hand and remorse and relief were warring in his heart. Joe took the pistol from his hand and holstered it as the sheriff arrived on the scene. A small town appointee, he had little idea of what to do especially with a dozen people trying to tell him what happened. He did do the only sensible thing he could do at that point and yelled for quiet. He asked for one person to explain what happened, and Jane stepped forward to tell the story. He wanted very much to arrest Adam but had no grounds. It was clearly a case of self-defense, but he knew that when Billy's father returned, he would not see it that way. Everyone there knew that too. Quite a few stepped forward to say they had seen what happened and that Adam had fired only to save his unarmed brother from being shot down by Billy Barrow.

"Mister, Billy's father is in San Francisco on business. Ifn I was you, I wouldn't want to be within five hundred miles of here when he gets back."

"We'll leave, but I'd like it in writing that I did nothing illegal. My guess is that memories of this event could change dramatically if this boy's father returns to his town."

"I kin put it in writing, but none of these witnesses are likely to put their name to it."

"I'll take your word and signature."

The sheriff was reluctant, but no matter how he had gotten the job, he had taken an oath to uphold the law and took that seriously. He wrote out the letter as requested and signed it. Once he gave it to Adam, Adam and Joe read it over and thanked him for it. Within minutes of taking care of that, Adam and Joe had their horses and headed out of town. There wasn't much talk on that ride home even though it took a couple of weeks. Adam felt guilt over what he had done killing a young man. Joe felt guilt at having put Adam in that position. Neither ever spoke of it when they got home so Ben and Hoss never knew what happened in Barrow because Adam didn't want Joe to tell them, and Joe was good with that.

Now Adam lay trussed up in the back of his own wagon, gagged, and covered with a heavy canvas tarp. No one passing the wagon on the road would ever suspect it contained any human cargo. Adam had little else to do but think other than to suffer the bumps of the road. The man who had waylaid him so neatly that morning had said he was taking him to Barrow to face justice for murdering Billy Barrow. There hadn't been much talk after that. Adam had protested that he hadn't murdered anyone and that it had been a gunfight, but that earned him a blow to the head which had stunned him. He had never lost consciousness, but hadn't been able to resist as his hands were tied behind his back, and he was shoved into the bed of his own wagon. He was gagged and his ankles were tied together as well before a rope was run from his wrists to his ankles and tied tightly. He was trussed very effectively unable to move. The man's saddle and gear were stowed there as well as other supplies and then a tarp was thrown over all.

Remembering shooting Billy was easy. Adam could never forget any of the faces of the men he had shot and killed. There had been far too many and often made him moody and angry about living in a place where living required killing. But being held accountable for murder when he had been acting in defense of his unarmed brother was an injustice that rankled. It was a minor irritation too to realize he should have taken his father's advice that morning. They had discussed the trip to town after what had happened one day earlier. Ben had suggested that Adam take someone with him on the trip to town, but Adam had been confident that there was no direct threat to him assuming incorrectly that the threat was to the Ponderosa. If he had followed his father's advice, the simple ploy Brown had used could not have worked. He had ridden up to Adam as he neared the border of the Ponderosa and asked for directions to the ranchhouse saying he had business with Ben Cartwright. Adam had expected that much and had turned to point back the way he had come and heard the click of a pistol being cocked within seconds of doing so. From that point on, he had no defense being unprepared for such an encounter. If he had known he was going to be trussed and hauled off toward Barrow, he might have fought, but it was too late for that too. For the time being, he was left with his thoughts and memories and the many bumps in the road until his captor decided to stop for the night and what little reprieve that would offer him in his present state of helplessness.

That didn't happen for over eight hours. Brown drove the wagon well past the time of day that was safe for travel on the road, but he wanted to put as much distance as possible between him and any pursuit as he could. He had pushed the horses hard and knew they needed rest, but he had a plan and by the middle of the next day, he hoped to be able to take a route that would cause any pursuit to miss him entirely. He need not have worried. That pursuit wasn't even headed in his direction yet. Once Ben realized that Adam was too late for any reasonable explanation to apply, he and Hoss had headed out to find him. They reached Virginia City only to discover that Adam had never been there. Returning to the road, they had searched for signs of the wagon and it was nearly dark before Hoss found the signs of the wagon stopping and then turning.

"Pa, there was somebody on horseback here. Then a man on foot and another who looks like he fell. Pa, that had to be Adam by the size of the boot print. Our wagon is headed off toward California now."

"Let's go get some men and follow. We have to find Adam."

"Pa, it's getting late. I'll see how far I can follow these tracks, ifn I can at all, until it's too dark to see, and then I'll camp and wait for ya. Come out in the morning with fresh horses and supplies. Whoever done it has at least an eight hour head start on us. Even with a wagon, it's gonna take us a while to catch up to 'im."

Ben wanted to argue that Hoss' plan was too cautious, but he knew it was the way they should go. He agreed to do as Hoss asked even if he felt it was all wrong in his aching heart.

Chapter 3

Wrapping a bandage around Adam's left thigh, Brown was as irritated as Adam was in pain. Both were grimacing fiercely.

"Why did you try it? You had to know the odds were against you."

With a smirk that probably only he could manage within a grimace as the pain continued to radiate up from his leg, Adam responded in the only way he knew how to answer and that was with the truth. "You're taking me to a town where I'm wanted dead or alive for killing the son of the man who owns the town. It's a foregone conclusion as to what will happen to me there. My only chance is to get away from you before that."

"You'll get a trial." Adam didn't answer. "Listen, you can get an attorney. Your family has money. I know you know how the system works. You've beaten murder charges before."

"Because I didn't do it."

"Yeah, that's what they all say."

"You think I'm guilty already. What makes you think that anyone they get on a jury there hasn't already drawn the same conclusion? If you get me there, it's the same as marching up the steps of that gallows they'll build as soon as we ride into town."

"So you'll try again."

Adam didn't answer. He didn't have to answer such a question, but Brown wasn't going to give him another chance anyway. With his wound and heightened vigilance by the bounty hunter, Adam knew he was going to end up in a jail in a town where they wanted to see him hang. His only hope was that his family had some idea what had happened and were following his trail, but because of how he had been taken, he was worried that no one might know what had happened. Brown had set things up well. He had untied him though to let him climb from the wagon to take care of necessary business. Too cramped to do anything except a very stiff walk at that point, Adam did his best to work the muscles of his legs and arms loose as he bent behind a boulder and did what had to be done. By the time he was finished, he was ready to make a desperate escape attempt guessing that Brown wouldn't be ready for it. He didn't think he could take the muscular man especially after being bound for over eight hours, but he could surprise him and get some time to run so that's what he did. He bull rushed him knocking him from his feet. Then he turned and ran into the trees and brush, but a lucky shot by Brown a minute later took him down. He had nearly escaped into darkness and brush, but Brown fired at the sound he made and hit his leg. Even then, it had been difficult for Brown to find him because of the dark clothing he was wearing. Once dragged back to the wagon, Brown tore up a shirt and tied strips around Adam's leg.

"At least it's a through and through. If it wasn't, you likely wouldn't survive the trip cause we won't be seeing a town or a doctor for two days likely, but it was your choice to run."

"It was your choice to shoot an innocent man."

"You're hardly innocent. Didn't you know that after killing all those men you've shot that one day you'd have to face something like this? That someone would expect payment in kind?"

"What about you, Brown? By now, you've killed. Aren't you worried that someone will expect payment in kind? And won't you protest that you're innocent to them because you killed only in self defense or in defense of others or your property?"

Brown said nothing as that hit uncomfortably close to the truth. He pulled tightly on the bandage he was tying and the resulting pain caused Adam to gasp and stop talking. It was an answer of sorts, and Adam nodded knowing that which infuriated Brown even more. Brown stalked off to the side of the wagon to rummage in his saddlebags returning with shackles and handcuffs.

"I didn't want to do this, but you give me no choice."

"Now you think you need them? I can hardly run on this leg."

"I'm not taking any more chances with you."

The only good news for Adam was that he wasn't going to be lying with his hands behind his back. His hands were still swollen and his wrists were abraded from spending eight hours tied that way. The bad news was that Brown made him remove his boots so that the shackles fit around his ankles. Although running would have been highly unlikely, with the shackles and no boots, it was impossible. Brown smirked as he saw that realization hit Adam and knew he would have less trouble with him because of it. He was glad then that he had thought to bring those handcuffs and shackles with him. They weren't items he usually used, but in this case, he had thought they might be useful and had been proven correct. Feeling generous, he gave Adam a plate of beans and a cup of coffee for dinner. Then he tied a rope to the handcuffs and looped it around a wagon wheel and then tied another rope to the shackles and tied that off to a small sapling stretching Adam out on the ground although not uncomfortably but enough that there was no possible way for him to try to get away or get at anything. He dropped a blanket over him before he doused the fire and slipped into his bedroll confident that things were going as smoothly as they could go. Brown wasn't as confident the next morning though when he found that Adam was feverish and the wound was hot to the touch. It was clear that the wound was infected.

"Well, you've gone and done it to yourself now. We won't see a town for another two days. You better hang on that long. I'll get some liquor there and wash it out."

"It needs to be drained now."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"Heat a knife and open it up so it can drain. If you don't do that at least, it's likely I won't be around in two days when you get to a town."

Reluctant to take the time and delay their leaving, Brown knew it had to be done. If not, Adam might not be alive in two days or he would be so far gone he couldn't be saved. He started a small fire to heat a knife and began to pull the bandage from the wound. He ripped some of the canvas to use to bind the wound after he was done and pulled a clean handkerchief to place over the wound once it was drained. It was all that he had with him to use. Adam told him there were shotgun shells under the wagon seat next to a small shotgun hidden in a long box. Brown hadn't seen that and guessed that Adam had hoped to get to that weapon at some point but now needed it for his own survival. When he was ready, he gave Adam a piece of the canvas to bite and then dug open the wound. He had to give Adam credit for not screaming with what had to be done although he moaned and made all sorts of other noises as Brown poked, prodded, and squeezed to get the wound to drain until he was fairly certain he had done all that he could do. Then using the gunpowder from the shotgun shells, he cauterized the tissues that looked the most angry. When he did that, Adam bit into his own lip causing it to bleed and Brown wished he would pass out from the pain. Sweat beaded on his face and rolled in rivulets down his neck, but he stayed conscious.

However when Brown finished, Adam was too weak to manage to stand. Brown had to lift him into the wagon and push him forward so that he could close the gate at the back of the wagon. He threw the canvas over Adam and all the gear and hurried to hitch up the horses not making any effort to clean up the camp. He was two hours late getting started and had lost quite a bit of the advantage he had gained the previous day. If they were following him, which he sincerely hoped they were not, they could be only a few hours behind and on horseback making twice the miles that he could. It was going to be a rough ride for the next two hours until he reached the trail he wanted to take. His prisoner may have gotten some relief from the infected wound but was going to pay for it by bouncing around in the back of that wagon until they could make the turn that should cut off any pursuit.

That pursuit was in full swing too. Hoss had trailed the wagon to the road and then followed the tracks as well as he could until they mingled with the others so much that he could no longer distinguish one from another. He waited then for his father and brother to arrive in the morning with men to continue the rescue mission. They rode hard and came upon wagon after wagon headed either toward Virginia City or away but none were the Ponderosa buckboard although two drivers said they had seen a man driving a wagon fitting that description. It kept their hopes up even if no one had seen Adam in that wagon. By midday, they still had not caught up to that wagon, and no one they questioned on the road said they had seen it.

"Pa, they musta turned off somewhere."

"Maybe they did, Hoss, but what if they didn't?"

Joe had the solution. "Pa, Hoss and I can head back and look for any sign that they turned off and took another route. We're the best trackers left in this group, and the weather looks like it's going to turn If there are tracks, we need to find them soon or they'll be wiped out by the rain. You could take the rest of the men and keep riding on the road. If they're still heading toward California by this road, you should catch up to them today or early tomorrow."

Knowing he had little time to make a decision, Ben looked to Hoss who nodded. It was the best option they had. "All right, we'll do that. It's only one man so we still have the advantage either way. You two be careful. If he took Adam, he's a clever one. He may set a trap for you."

"We'll be careful, Pa. You take care too."

Riding hard and pushing their horses to their limits stopping only to question travelers and teamsters on the road, Ben and his group didn't find a trace of Adam or the Ponderosa buckboard. At nightfall when they could no longer safely ride, they made camp. The ranch hands who had ridden with Ben knew what Ben knew but didn't want to admit. They should have caught up to any wagon they were pursuing by this time. If they had not, it was likely because the wagon had not traveled in this direction. It didn't make much sense to Ben and it took some time before he was willing to accept what almost had to be the truth. Somehow, the driver had turned away from the man road and was using a trail or little used road and heading south or north. Hoss had been correct, and Ben could only hope that he and Joe had not walked into a trap.

Luckily or unluckily as one might look at it, Hoss and Joe had not found where the wagon had turned off, but they had found where Brown had camped the night before so they had a reference point. By the time they got there, it was getting dark and the winds were picking up in advance of a storm front that was moving in very rapidly. As Hoss set up a lean-to for protection, Joe picked up the partially burned wood from the campfire because that wood would work well as a fire starter. He found the discarded bandage then and brought it to Hoss who understood too what it meant.

"It's gotta be Adam who's wounded." Hoss sniffed the bandage. "And the wound is infected too. I shur hope that man did something about that, or he's gonna be mighty sorry about that when we catch up to 'im."

It was a lot of bravado, but both Hoss and Joe were scared for their older brother and wondering what had happened to him.

Chapter 4

Days later, Ben was as discouraged as he had been in the desert when they had searched for a lost Adam years earlier. Once again, there was no trace of him. They had been up and down that road and crisscrossed the land on either side but never found a trace of where that wagon had gone. A thunderstorm had washed roads and trails into muddy tracks leaving them little to follow, but they found no more camps nor any other evidence of anyone traveling in any other direction other than the main road. They still had no clue as to why someone wanted to take Adam with them, but Ben berated himself for not insisting that Adam take someone with him when he went to town that Thursday morning. Joe tried to reassure him that it wasn't his fault.

"Pa, none of us thought something like this was going to happen. We thought that there was a threat against the Ponderosa. Adam was due to leave to place that bid for the railroad contract. That's when we all thought there was going to be a problem. Even Adam said he was worried about that and would accept one or two others going with him when he had to go. We had no idea that someone would kidnap him when he went to town for supplies and the small payroll."

"Yeah, Pa, Joe's right. Ya know I woulda been the first one sitting next to Adam on that wagon ifn I thought there was a chance he was gonna be in trouble of any kind. In all the talk we had that night before, not one of us ever suspected the threat was to Adam himself. Mebbe we shoulda with all the attention that man was givin' Adam in the saloon and in town, but it didn't make no sense. It still don't."

"That's what bothers me so much about this. We don't know where to look because we don't know who would have done this and why."

They were nearly back home when they got the first part of an answer. Sheriff Roy Coffee rode up to greet them. "Ben, I got some news for ya, and it ain't good."

"Roy, I'm as frustrated and upset as I can be. I don't have time for riddles. Adam's missing, and we've been out searching. Tell me what you want to tell me. I have things to tell you too."

Surprised a bit at Ben's manner and somewhat shocked at his news, Roy decided to go ahead and tell him despite the rudeness because he assumed it all tied together. "I got a letter in the mail from that bounty hunter done helped me out a few years back getting that murdering Kyle Nagle back here to stand trial and I helped him out with his family here. He remembered how you and your family was pretty important in helping with his family issues."

"Roy, I really don't have time for this."

"No, Ben, I think you do have time for this. This here bounty hunter sent me a wanted poster he got in the mail. Ben, you ain't gonna believe who's on that wanted poster." Sensing that Ben's patience was nonexistent, Roy told him instead of making him guess. "It's Adam. Says he's wanted for murder in a town in the southern part of California that's called Barrow. There's a five thousand dollar reward on him on the poster. The letter with it says the father of the murdered man will pay another five thousand if the trial finds Adam guilty and he's hanged for what he done."

"What? Adam has never murdered anyone!"

Joe's face drained though at the mention of the incident and then Barrow. He knew exactly what the situation was and who the man paying the money probably was too. "Pa, Roy, I can explain a lot of this. I can't believe that this is happening now after all this time though. It was a little more than five years ago that it happened."

"Five years ago that what happened? Joe, what happened?" Ben was impatient because he was scared.

"Me and Adam were on that horse buying trip. That wasn't that long before he left. Remember, he was so discouraged with how things were going here and he wanted to see the world and everything."

"Yes, Joe, yes, I remember, but what happened?"

"We went through a lot of little towns, but in this one little town, Adam shot a man to save my life. I got in a fight in a saloon over a girl." Joe knew the look he was going to get before he said that but had to tell the whole story. "I won and Adam said we had to get out of there. He said the man's name was the same as the town so we were likely going to be in some trouble."

"What was the name of the town?"

"I'm guessing it's Barrow." Roy interjected the name quickly.

"Yeah, that's it."

"It's the town on the wanted poster where they're to bring Adam for trial."

"Yeah, now I remember. The man's name was Billy Barrow except he wasn't that old. He came out of the saloon when I was cleaning up. I had taken my gun off, and he was going to shoot me down anyway like it didn't matter. When he drew, Adam drew. Adam shot him in the leg, but he turned the pistol toward Adam to shoot again, and Adam had to shoot him. He didn't want to kill him, Pa. He had no choice. The sheriff came and people there told him what I told you. The sheriff put it all in writing and signed it. He gave the paper to Adam. The sheriff said we ought to leave because the dead man's father was in San Francisco, and when he got back, he was going to want to see somebody pay for the death of his son. We left town then with the four horses we had bought and we came home."

"You never told me about this before?"

"Adam didn't want to talk about it. He was real upset. You know how he gets when he's upset. He said he'd had enough of killing and didn't want to talk about killing either."

"Dadburnit, Joe, that probably had a lot to do with Adam leaving back then. You shoulda said something."

"Hoss, would you have said something if Adam asked you not to?"

"Dang it, probably not, but where do you suppose that paper is. It could turn out to be real important. It is real important."

"Maybe, but we need to go to Barrow. Whoever it is could have Adam there already. Hey, do you think it's that bounty hunter who was watching us in the saloon that day? Pa, we need to get going. Adam's in a lot of trouble. He's wounded and now they want to hang him."

"I know, Joe, where is Barrow? How do we get there?" Ben, like the others, had never heard of the town.

"Pa, Joe can show us. We could get started right away."

"Hoss, it's nearly dark and our horses are done. We need fresh horses, we need that paper that Adam got from the sheriff, and we need help from the state of California. We need to work this all out and then head to Barrow." Pausing for a moment to think about all the information he had received in so short a time, Ben made a decision. "I don't think that he could have gotten Adam to Barrow yet using backroads and traveling by wagon. We at least have that working in our favor. Now let's go to the house and do some planning and find that letter if it's in the house. We'll leave at the first hint of light in the morning."

"Ben, I can't go with you, but I can start sending telegrams in the morning to try to get some help headed your way."

"Thank you, Roy. We're going to need all the help we can get and we're going to need it soon. Adam is going to need it soon."

The search of Adam's room was thorough and yet yielded no letter. That was discouraging because it was the best evidence they would have for extricating him from the mess in which he was ensnared. It was Hop Sing who reminded them of another place to look. Before Adam had left years earlier, he had put a number of important papers in a small lockbox in the gun cabinet thinking that if they cleaned out his room or if another person used it, he wanted those papers to be safe. There were a few written mementoes from his mother and grandfather that Grandfather Stoddard had given him when he was in Boston, there was his certificate of birth from the Boston church where his father had him baptized, his college diploma, and various other papers. In that box, they found the letter.

"Pa, Joe and me been thinking that you should be the one to take this to the authorities in California." Seeing their father about to object, Hoss continued on in a rush with his points to convince him before Ben could state he wouldn't. "You're the one they're most likely gonna listen to, and me and Joe can ride harder and faster to Barrow with only the two of us. More men can follow us with extra horses and such, but the best way and the fastest way to get help to Adam is for me and Joe to go straight to him and for you to go to the government and get help. Roy's gonna be sending help too, but we need somebody in that town looking out for Adam to give the rest of you time to get help there before they go and do something awful to Adam."

More than anything, Ben wanted to say that Hoss was wrong, but no matter how many ways he thought about it and tried to come up with an argument to counter what he had said, he failed. "You're right. Let's get organized so we can get moving on that as soon as possible."

"Joe's already picking out horses for us to ride. We're taking three. If we have to, we'll leave horses behind as we go. Hop Sing is packing food for us to eat as we go. If I can't keep up, Joe will ride ahead. The key is to get somebody there to help Adam as soon as we can."

"Joe is already picking out horses for you to ride? You were pretty sure of yourself."

"We knew that when it came to family, you'd do the best thing and there isn't a better way, is there?"

"No, there isn't a better way. We have to pray now that they haven't reached that blasted town before you get there. I wish I had an army to send with you, but we do have a lot of hands. Organize as many as want to go. I don't care if it looks like an invading army. I got my son back and I don't want to lose him to some vengeful deranged father who can't live with the truth of what his son was and how he died."

"Pa, Joe said there wasn't any telegraph line into that town. I know it's gonna be hard not knowing, but we'll get word out as soon as we know something and find out where the nearest telegraph line is. There's got to be one near there somewheres."

As the first hint of light began to color the sky in the morning, there was the neighing of fifty horses, the creaking of leather, and the soft voices of men going about their business. As soon as there was enough light to see the road, Hoss and Joe rode out breaking into a gallop as soon as they were clear of the buildings. They each had two horses on lead ropes following them. Ben and the rest of the men rode out immediately after setting a good pace but not at the breakneck speed of the two brothers. There were a few young hands along whose job was going to be to collect any horses that were worn out and return them to the ranch so that the rest of the men could continue to ride hard. That would include any of the horses that might be abandoned by Hoss or Joe if they were found on the trail. When the group reached the cutoff toward Barrow, Ben continued on alone toward California with one extra mount while the small army of Ponderosa men headed south on a mission to help rescue his oldest son from a vengeful malefactor.

Chapter 5

About a day's travel from Barrow, bounty hunter Gene Brown began to relax some. Adam Cartwright had needed some medical attention and the time they had spent in a little town waiting and then having a doctor clean Adam's wound and stitch it up while lecturing Brown on his poor care of his prisoner had cost him a full day of travel. Brown had bought a small can of brown paint and changed the color of the wagon and bought some staves so that the canvas tarp was now permanently affixed as a cover over the back of the wagon. Anyone seeing them would not be able to identify the wagon as the one from the Ponderosa. However, if they took the time to ask questions, they would know about the wounded man in chains being treated at the doctor's office. There was no way around that particular bit of information, and Brown now regretted not cleaning up the first camp because he realized later that the discarded bandage was going to be all the evidence they needed to know that Adam was wounded. He had little doubt that they had found that camp even as he hoped they had not found his trail and had no idea where he was going. The best case scenario for him was to get to Barrow and have the trial and sentence concluded before Cartwright's family knew where he was. As much to justify his actions as anything else, he kept taunting Adam.

"You'll soon pay for your past. Finally justice will be done for you murdering that boy, shooting him down when he didn't even know you were drawing down on him."

"I've told you. He drew on my brother who was unarmed. I told him Joe was unarmed and he said he preferred it because he couldn't lose that way. He drew and I drew. I shot him in the leg first, but then he aimed at me and I had to shoot him again. I didn't want to kill him, but it's difficult to hit a moving target where you want to especially one who is aiming at your chest with a forty-five. It was in the middle of the day in the middle of town. If it had been murder, the sheriff would have arrested me instead of giving me a written statement exonerating me of any criminal action. If you would take me back to the Ponderosa, I could show you the letter."

"You can get a lawyer who can send for that letter if it even exists."

At that point, Adam would always shrug or sigh or otherwise indicate there was no point in continuing the conversation. It was a bit disconcerting to Brown that Adam's story stayed the same no matter how many times he told it. The words changed but the details always remained exactly the same. That was difficult to do unless someone was an accomplished liar, or what worried him a lot more, if they were telling the truth. He had to console himself with the thought that a man like Adam Cartwright would hire the best attorney available who could handle all of those issues because he was beginning to worry that he was bringing in an innocent man. The way the bounty posters had been delivered had been the first worrisome detail, but he had ignored that because of the amount of the reward. However, the more he learned, the more difficult it was to rationalize his actions. He looked forward to turning the whole matter over to the justice system to let lawyers, a jury, and a judge work out the issues that he could not reconcile satisfactorily. He had always been able to handle any of the moral issues associated with his chosen profession with the reassuring knowledge that he went after men who had done unspeakable acts and deserved the fate that awaited them. This time, his moral dilemma was not so easily resolved however because he had to wonder if he was the one who was committing the unforgivable sin.

The other problem that Brown wrestled with was that Adam was running a persistent fever and the wound in his leg was still obviously infected despite what the doctor had done. It had not been enough. Adam needed more medical attention and probably needed that wound completely irrigated. Brown had seen such issues before and suspected that there was some kind of foreign matter still in the wound somewhere. It happened often in a through and through wound. Adam wasn't eating much either and was getting weaker. The only good thing was that he was drinking enough so he was coherent, but the drinking illustrated the other issues. Adam needed to take care of necessary business but had trouble walking. Brown had to help him from the wagon, help him to walk to a tree where Adam would lean until he finished, and then Brown had to help him to walk back. He thought about removing the shackles but then had the thought that Cartwright could be putting on an elaborate charade that could suddenly end once the shackles were removed so they stayed. Brown decided he would remove them when he pulled up in front of the jail in Barrow.

That however was not how it worked out. As they arrived there a day and half later, they drew several onlookers immediately, but one stood out as the most impressive by far. He dressed well and had the air of someone who was used to running things and getting his way. He sent one of the others in to get the sheriff as if he knew who was in the back of the wagon. Brown pulled Adam to the end of the wagon and was about to unlock the shackles when he heard an order barked at him.

"Leave them on!"

"He can't wear his boots with the shackles on."

"That's all right."

By then, the sheriff arrived and Brown ignored the man who he assumed at this point must be Barrow. He handed the wanted poster to the sheriff who looked instead to the bossy man standing beside the wagon staring at Adam.

"Mister Barrow, it's the poster you sent out for Adam Cartwright."

"I guessed as much, Sheriff Marks. Have this bastard locked up. I'll send word to the county seat that we have a murderer in custody and we need the judge here for a trial."

Or the first time, Adam saw the man who was orchestrating this whole sorry mess in which he was trapped. The man was short but still had the attitude that he stood above others. He looked at Adam with hate from beady eyes set in a face that showed he ate too much, drank too much, and probably did too much of everything that wasn't good to do. What he probably never did was work. Adam's guess was that other people did his work for him. When Brown and Sheriff Marks moved to help him from the wagon and to walk to the jail, Barrow barked out orders once more.

"Let him walk on his own. Don't help him."

"He's wounded. He'll likely fall if we don't help him."

"Then let him crawl to his cell. It's what he ought to do. He's scum."

Brown saw something then that he marveled at then and whenever he remembered it later. It was a masterful exhibition of a man ignoring overwhelming pain and weakness in order to win a round with a bully. Adam stood on his own and took a shaky step on his wounded leg that caused a tremor to pass through his body. He didn't allow himself to give in to the searing pain of standing on that leg but took another step. He moved slowly and deliberately because to try to walk any other way would have meant a fall and the humiliation of being in the dirt at Barrow's feet. He wasn't going to do it. The sheriff and Brown walked slowly behind him as he continued his glacial pace pausing ever so briefly to look down at Barrow as he passed him. It infuriated Barrow to have to look up at the much taller, muscular dark haired man but there was nothing that he could do at that point. Adam was walking too slowly to trip him. He wanted to reach out to shove him to the dirt, but that would have been undignified for one such as him and he couldn't be seen as a common ruffian so he had to stand there as Adam walked to the boardwalk in front of the sheriff's office, grabbed the post there, and slowly pulled himself up the small step. With a sound of disgust, Barrow stomped away then to his office allowing the sheriff and Brown to help Adam to a cell. Once Adam was settled on the bare mattress with his shackles and handcuffs removed, the sheriff locked the cell. Adam lay on the cot doing his best to recover from the exertion of that walk because of the pain. He would have liked some water but was too exhausted at that point to ask for it and too proud to moan.

"Sheriff Marks, he needs a doctor. That wound in his leg needs attention. He's been running a bit of a fever and it's likely to get worse. It's been looked at, but obviously there's still something wrong with it."

"Closest doctor is at the county seat. Probably won't matter. By Monday, there could be a trial, and by Tuesday, he'll likely be swinging from a gallows."

"It's Saturday. Doesn't he get a chance to contact an attorney?"

"I guess if he wants one, he can ask on Monday when he sees the judge. No way to contact one now. Nobody in any office today or tomorrow, and we don't have a telegraph line. How would he pay for one anyway?"

"The horses and the wagon outside belong to him. They're worth enough to hire an attorney, I would think."

"Yeah, probably more than enough. Well, I got my orders. I'll take care of the wagon and horses then. The horse tied to the back belong to you then?"

A bit surprised that Marks admitted getting orders when he was the sheriff, Brown let the statement pass without comment. "Yes, that's mine. The shackles and the handcuffs are mine too. His boots are in the back of the wagon. Where do I go to see about getting the reward for bringing him in?"

"I got it for you here in my safe. Mister Barrow give me the money when he sent out them posters."

As the sheriff unlocked the safe, Adam had a question now that he had regained his ability to speak after the struggle to walk into the sheriff's office. "What happened to the last sheriff?"

"He and Mister Barrow had a difference of opinion over them wanted posters. They did years ago too, but then Mister Barrow found out you had up and left the country so there was no point to it. When he found out you was back, he decided to do it."

"Yes, but what happened to the old sheriff?"

"No one rightly knows. He fell somehow at his place and hit his head. They found his body the next morning cause he didn't come in to work. Mister Barrow asked me if I wanted the job and told me how much it paid. I jumped at the chance."

After hearing that, Brown should have known the look he would get when he turned his attention to Adam but was still surprised by the intensity of the gaze. He knew then that he had probably delivered an innocent man into the hands of a murderer and turned not only his whole career but his life too into a shambles. He faced criminal charges no matter how this played out and yet at the moment could see no way to extricate himself or Adam from the trap.

"Here's your money. You'll get the rest from Mister Barrow himself if things work out the way he wants. You only have to stick around town until it's all over."

Expecting it, Brown turned to see the smirk from Adam. If he stayed, it likely meant he would never leave this town. He would be buried in the cemetery in an unmarked grave next to the old sheriff and Adam. Barrow wasn't going to let him ride out of here with that money and the promise of five thousand more was the carrot dangling at the end of the stick to keep him in town until he could be eliminated but probably not until after all the commotion of the trial and the hanging. About the time that Brown relaxed his guard, he would be facing a similar fate to what had happened to the sheriff. He knew it. Adam knew it. Perhaps even the new sheriff knew it. It appeared he would do whatever Barrow told him to do. Brown was a bit worried about leaving Adam in his custody but guessed nothing was likely to happen. Barrow did seem set on having his show trial before the planned execution of his grisly vengeance.

Chapter 6

Laying on the bare mattress in the cell, Adam was grateful that at least he was no longer subjected to the uncomfortable ride in the wagon with all the bumps of the trail, the rough wood abrading his skin, and the stiffness of being forced into laying in one position for twelve or more hours a day as they traveled and then in a similar position to sleep at night. He no longer had the handcuffs and shackles on so he could move more freely and could stand if his leg didn't hurt so badly when he tried. The sheriff had left shortly after the bounty hunter had gotten his money and left. Adam guessed the bounty hunter wouldn't live much longer than he did and wondered if the bounty hunter realized that. The look on his face had made it appear that he did. As hours passed, Adam grew thirsty and hungry. Although he had complained to Brown about the diet of beans and jerky on the trail, he would have gladly accepted that and a pitcher of water to wash it down. He was still running a slight fever and generally felt warm, but guessed that during the night, chills would come as the night air invaded through the open window of the cell. There was a wooden shutter on the outside of the bars, but someone would have to go out there to close it, and it seemed no one had much interest in doing anything for his comfort. There was a bucket in the corner of the cell, and he used that for what he assumed was its intended purpose. Then he lay down again and waited for the sheriff's return. The sheriff came in about dusk with what appeared to be fresh gravy stains on his shirt. He sat at his desk and pulled open a drawer to take out a bottle and pour himself a small glass of whiskey.

"Sheriff, could I have some water please?" Getting no response, Adam asked again. Then he asked if he was going to be given a blanket for the night. Finally he asked if he was going to be given a meal, but by that time, he assumed the answer was going to be silence. He was surprised then to hear the sheriff talk.

"Listen, for your best interest, you should shut up. You get nothing. Billy Barrow got nothing from you so you get nothing from his town. You ain't gonna die from no water and no food for a few days, and it ain't that hot and not that cold so you kin just git along fine with what you got. Shut up, sleep, sit, whatever, but don't ask for nothing no more. I'll empty that bucket in the morning and again at night cause I don't want it stinking in here but that's all that's gonna happen, see?"

"I see. You're no sheriff. You're his paid dog and you do his tricks for him like any good trained dog would."

Sheriff Marks went to the door of his office then and opened it to admit two other men. Adam realized too late that he had been set up. Marks took the key and unlocked the cell so the two men could move in and grab Adam. They held him so that Marks could hit him with no fear of Adam being able to defend himself. When Marks decided he had done enough damage, he told the men to dump Adam on the cot. He lay there semiconscious as Marks addressed him.

"Don't ever backtalk me again, boy." Then Marks turned to the two men. "You can go tell Mister Barrow that he's had his beating. He likely won't be saying anything more for a while."

As Adam lay suffering on the cot, bounty hunter Gene Brown found that enjoying his new wealth wasn't going to be easy. He was followed wherever he went effectively nullifying any of his plans for slipping out of town with his money and his life. He checked into a room above the saloon and was given the room facing the street with no way to slip out the window unseen and he was sure that any exit from the building was being watched. As effectively locked up as Adam was, he lay on the bed and thought through his options. With his fate now tied inexorably with Adam's, there seemed to be only one way to go. He was going to have to try to get to the judge when he got to town, and the way to do that was to try to help Adam. It was an odd position for a bounty hunter to be forced to consider, and he laughed a little into the darkness. It wasn't only the irony of now trying to help prove the innocence of a man he had brought in to face trial, but as he remembered those lectures he had heard in church so many years earlier about what could come to pass for those who gave in to greed.

The next morning, Brown had breakfast and then tried to come up with a reason to visit Adam in the jail. It had to be a good one because he didn't want them to realize that he was going to help Adam or they might decide to get rid of him sooner. Then he remembered that he still had Adam's pistol and gunbelt in his gear. After breakfast, he went to his room to get it and noticed that he was still being followed. He wondered then how many men Barrow had on his payroll for it had to be substantial not realizing that only five men willing to use violence and to kill could be enough. After collecting the pistol rig, Brown headed to the jail to see Adam walking at a normal pace so as not to appear too anxious. He stopped to look at the displays in the windows of the mercantile. It wasn't very interesting stuff to see but helped his cover as a man trying to kill some time. After that, he crossed the street at a diagonal and reached the sheriff's office only to find that no one answered the door when he knocked and that the door was locked. He shrugged and sat in a chair outside the office, leaned back, put his feet up on an empty crate that was there, and closed his eyes. He planned to wait looking like any man who had nothing better to do.

Close to Barrow, Hoss and Joe had switched to the last of their three horses and released the tired ones. They were riding hard and hoped to make Barrow by nightfall or very early the next morning. They had hardly talked during most of the trip other than to take care of what was needed saving their energy for the hard riding they pushed themselves to do. It was especially hard on Hoss who wasn't used to this kind of riding, and Joe didn't hold back to give his brother any break either. They had agreed when they started that Joe shouldn't do that. If Hoss couldn't keep up, then the plan was that Joe would ride ahead to get to Adam and help him as much as he could until Hoss and then the others arrived. But Hoss was as determined as he could be to keep up and had done it. He had lost weight not eating as much and working hard at riding. Both slept well each night but not long using only the hours of darkness for making camp, eating, sleeping, and then preparing to ride out. They rested and watered the horses as needed during the day and managed to get at least twelve hours of riding in every day. They knew they were punishing the horses and felt badly about that, but Adam's life hung in the balance. They guessed that they were traveling about twice as fast as the bounty hunter had so hoped to be in Barrow before a trial could occur but knew it might be close.

In Barrow, it was after noon before the sheriff arrived at his office. Brown was surprised but managed not to show it feigning indifference and acting as if he had awakened from a nap when Sheriff Marks called his name. He followed the sheriff into his office.

"When I emptied my things in my room last night, I remembered that I had Cartwright's pistol rig with me." Glancing into the lone cell in the sheriff's office, Brown had to use all the acting ability he had to control his reaction. Adam lay on the bare mattress with no boots and no blanket, but it was the bruised and battered face that surprised Brown the most. He couldn't keep the reaction completely concealed and Marks saw it.

"He resisted and I had to teach him that I don't put up with that. He won't be resisting any more."

"I'm surprised he could resist at all on that leg. He had trouble even standing."

"I guess he's a better actor than you thought he was. He resisted all right. Now is there anything else."

"No, nothing else except I could help watch him when you bring him his lunch so you don't have to worry about him."

"He ain't getting no lunch. Rules here are that you pay for your blanket and your meals when you're in jail. It's so the taxpayers don't have to pay, and he can't pay."

"He's got that wagon and horses."

"Those were confiscated to pay his brother's fine."

"His brother's fine?"

"Yes, his brother had a fine for fighting in town and never paid it. Over five years with interest, it added up."

"To over five hundred dollars? That wagon and horses must be worth that much."

"Yes, to that much. Five years is a long time. You're not starting to feel sorry for that murderer, are you?"

Realizing that he had let too much slip, Brown did his best to remain more neutral. "No, not at all, it's only that this case is so different than how I normally see cases handled. I'm surprised is all. I'll be going to get some lunch. By the way, what happens to others in jail who can't pay for meals and a blanket?"

"We put it on a tab and they work it off on the Barrow ranch or in the Barrow mines when they get out."

Thinking it was quite a racket that Barrow had set up, Brown smiled instead of showing his disdain. "That's a pretty neat system. I like it. Well, I'm off to get some lunch. I think I've handed over all of his property now. Be seeing you, Sheriff."

Once outside, Brown headed for the restaurant where he had eaten dinner. The same waitress was working and the same cook. He guessed they were the only two employees there were and neither one seemed to like him at all. The waitress was especially hostile in the looks she gave him. She walked with a bit of a limp, but otherwise carried herself well and certainly was an attractive woman even with the looks she gave him. He ordered and ate, but before he left, he had to ask why she was so hostile.

"You have to ask why after what you did? You brought an innocent man here who's going to be murdered after they put on a joke of a trial. You got your blood money so why do you care?"

"Why do you think he's innocent?" Brown had no idea what a floodgate that would open.

"I don't think he's innocent. I know he's innocent. I was there. I lot of people were there and know it, but not one of them will be in that courthouse to testify. We know what happened to the sheriff when he dared to stand up to Barrow on this. We can't save him. We'll only die with him. I wish that would do some good, but it won't."

"What did you see if you were there?"

"I was there. There's no 'if' in it at all. I was the woman that they tried to help, that man and his brother. The younger one stopped Billy from hurting me, and the older one stopped Billy from murdering his brother. The sheriff came and we all told him what happened. He wrote it down and gave that man the letter so he'd have proof if Barrow ever came after him and tried to say otherwise. We never thought he would send bounty hunters to do his dirty deed for him."

"So his story is true? You're Jane?"

"I am." And Jane and Brown spent an hour talking about what had happened five years earlier including the beating she had received from Billy's father when he found out what happened and blamed her for causing it. Her limp was a result of the broken hip she had gotten when he kicked her as she lay on the floor after he knocked her down. Luckily others had pulled him away before he could kick her any more. She had survived and unable to work in the saloon had taken the job at the restaurant. Brown now knew what kind of man he was working for and what kind of deed he had done. He told Jane what he had seen at the jail and none of it surprised her at all.

"Will Barrow is an evil man. He wants that Cartwright to suffer, but he wants to humiliate him too; to drive him down into the dirt and make him appear less than human. It wouldn't be the first time he's treated someone like that before having him killed. Did the new sheriff tell you that the old sheriff had all his teeth knocked out and his nose smashed?" Brown was shocked by that information. "No, I don't suppose he did. Yes, he died in a fall, but he was beaten so badly that the last fall was the fatal blow only because he couldn't take any more. He dared to stand up to Barrow one time too many. He was a good man."

What Brown didn't know was how he could do anything about any of it. He was one man against a powerful man who had hired killers working for him. He wished he hadn't done such a good job eluding pursuit because some angry Cartwrights would certainly have been a big help. He might have been relieved although a bit worried too if he had known that Hoss and Joe were only a few miles away from town at that point and had decided that they would enter town at first light instead of riding in when it was all dark. Ben had met with the governor too that evening and telegrams were being sent to neighboring communities to see if there were lawmen who could be sent to Barrow to help the judge get to the bottom of the case or at least delay the trial until all the evidence could be presented and state prosecutors brought in to look at the evidence and the charges. Less than two days ride from Barrow, there were fifteen hands from the Ponderosa ready to do whatever they needed to do to help. The key was that Adam had to survive long enough for any of that to make a difference in the outcome.

Chapter 7

On Monday morning, bounty hunter Gene Brown was watching out his hotel window and got quite a surprise when he saw Hoss and Joe Cartwright ride into town. He looked behind them hoping they had brought more men and was disappointed, but then he guessed they had thought probably that they were only going to have to confront him. He looked at his gunbelt and wondered if he should wear it or not. Considering that Hoss and Joe might want to shoot him, and it might be best to face them unarmed so he thought he shouldn't but then again, Barrow's men likely wanted all three of them dead. At least Hoss and Joe would want information from him and wouldn't likely act until they knew what he knew. He strapped on the gunbelt. Mustering up his courage, he headed down the stairs and outside where they could see him before he walked to the restaurant guessing they would follow. As fast as Hoss and Joe pursued him to the restaurant, he almost didn't get inside before they were there. Even then, Hoss pinned him up against the wall and Joe was there beside him with fury showing just as clearly in his expression.

"Where's Adam? What'd ya do with our brother?"

"He's in the jail. If you let me go, there's a lot you need to know. I'm sorry I brought him here. I had no idea what I was doing."

Clearly Brown's words caught the two brothers by surprise and they didn't know how to react. Jane stepped forward then.

"I don't know if you remember me, but I'm the saloon girl you rescued from Billy Barrow. I'm the cause of all of this, and I would like to help if I can. Please, let him go. He was used as much as I was or anyone else. He can help us now, I think. He knows more about the whole situation that anyone probably so you should listen to him."

"He kidnapped our brother, shot him, and brought him here to be killed, but you want us to trust him? I don't think that's possible."

"I don't think you have much of a choice. Your brother's murder trial is today."

"They've set it up that he'll be found guilty. There's no possible way for him to be found not guilty. The judge is probably an honest man, but he won't have a choice but to sentence him to hang. In towns like this, it will be done tomorrow. We don't have much time. We need to get to the judge somehow or disrupt the trial somehow."

"I can disrupt the trial. I can go in there and tell the truth. I was there. I know what happened." Joe was adamant, and Hoss agreed that he probably ought to do that.

"A jury isn't going to believe you. You're his brother, and Barrow has paid thugs who will testify that Adam shot Billy down when he wasn't even looking."

"My story makes more sense and it will be the same as what Adam says. Jane, will you testify too?"

"If they let me."

"Why wouldn't they let you?"

"Well, we'll see if they let you testify. If they do, and if they let Adam testify , then I will."

"Of course, Adam will testify. You've never met a man who was more dedicated to the truth. He'll tell it exactly like it happened."

"Dadburnit, Joe's right. Adam's the most honest man you could ever meet. He'll tell those folks in there the truth."

At that point, Jane and Brown exchanged looks and Hoss and Joe knew it meant they were going to hear some bad news. It didn't take long for that part to be divulged as Brown began explaining what he knew of the treatment Adam had received since arriving in Barrow. "I'm sorry, but he did try to escape and I thought he was a wanted man. I shot him in the leg. I stopped in a town along the way and got a doctor to take care of it, but I think he missed something because Adam started running a fever again and wasn't eating much. He was coherent though and kept drinking. When I got here, I told them he needed medical attention. He never got it. What he did get was a beating. I saw that when I went back to the jail that night. He's in a cell with no blanket. He has no boots. They're not giving him food or water either."

Hoss was visibly upset by all of that. "I may kill a few of 'em with my bare hands before this is all over."

Joe was equally upset. "You may have to stand in line."

"As far as I can tell, they want him weak and disoriented by the time the trial starts. He won't be in any shape to testify. He'll look the part of an outlaw and a murderer. I don't know what else they'll say about his condition, but I'm sure it will reflect badly on him. By the time they're done, the jury will convict him of any charges they bring. He doesn't stand a chance."

Joe wanted to be hopeful. "But with my testimony and with Jane's and if you tell them what happened to Adam?"

"As Jane said, if they let us."

"I've got to try."

Jane put her hand on Joe's arm then. "Be careful. I'm afraid for you. Your brother is already in so much danger. I don't want to see you hurt too."

Brown was more practical. "Yeah, I think you do have to try to testify, and I hope it works, but I'm afraid it won't. Then we'll have to try something else. You two probably shouldn't be seen together."

Hoss was realistic about that though. "It might be too late for that."

"It might be. He's got his men watching me all the time."

That confused both Joe and Hoss, but it was Joe who questioned it first. "Why is he watching you?"

"I don't think he wants his five thousand dollars to leave town."

The four of them talked for a time then making plans and contingency plans because as Joe pointed out, Adam would have made a backup plan in case the main plan didn't work and probably a plan for that too in case it didn't work. So by the time they had finished talking, they thought they had options worked out no matter what Barrow did, but as Jane pointed out to them, he could be dangerously unpredictable.

"Well, Miss Jane, we got help on the way. The main thing we all got to do is to keep Adam and ourselves alive for at least two more days. By then, I think the army will be here."

"The 'army'?"

"We got a bunch of men from our ranch following along behind Joe and me, our Pa talking to the California governor about sending help, and the sheriff in Virginia City sending out telegrams to whoever he can trying to get somebody here to help us. It takes time and that's what we gotta give 'em."

There wasn't anything else left to say. Brown left first because Barrow and his men would expect him to be interested in the outcome of the trial. He headed to the saloon where the trial was to be held. Hoss and Joe waited in the restaurant for Adam to be brought across the street for his trial. As they waited, Hoss poked Joe in the ribs. Even in the gravely serious situation, he couldn't help but tease his younger brother.

"I think that little gal is smitten with you a bit. She kept looking at you every chance she got, and putting her hand on your arm and such. She never done told me to be careful like she done you."

"I don't have time for that now." But then Joe couldn't help himself. "But maybe after we get Adam out of this mess, I'll need someone to distract me from all this hard work we've been doing."

The two brothers might have engaged in more banter except for the shock they received at that point. Adam was brought out from the sheriff's office. They knew it was him by the hair and the clothing, but otherwise would not have recognized him. His head was down as if he had given up. He shuffled along with a severe limp and unable to walk in a straight line with a man holding him up on either side. He likely would have stumbled and fallen otherwise. His head lolled back and forth by the time he reached the middle of the street, and at one point he raised his head up briefly allowing his brothers to see how badly he had been beaten. He seemed to be grimacing in pain likely from his leg wound. Barefoot, dirty, and unkempt, he looked as disreputable as anyone could look. Barrow had succeeded in creating the perfect image for a criminal defendant if you wanted him convicted and quickly. Doing their best to hold their fury in check, Hoss and Joe exited the restaurant and walked to the saloon to join the throng inside who wanted to watch the proceedings.

The judge took his seat soon after and asked if the prosecution was ready to proceed. The sheriff said they were. Then he asked if the defendant had a lawyer. The sheriff said he hadn't asked for one.

"In fact, your honor, he ain't said nary a word since Saturday night. He sits in his cell and stares at the wall like he's thinking about his guilt over what he done."

"Sheriff, that's enough. Please do not characterize the witness. Now, call your first witness please."

One by one, Barrow's hired witnesses came to the stand to testify even though none of them had been present the day that Billy Barrow had been shot. When the last of them had finished, the judge turned to Adam who had sat for the entire proceedings with his head down.

"Adam Cartwright, do you wish to testify or do you have witnesses on your behalf?"

As Adam said nothing and appeared perhaps not to even understand what had been said to him, Joe stepped forward. "I can testify on his behalf. I was there. Those other so-called witnesses weren't there, and every one of them committed perjury in this court. In other words, Your Honor, they lied to you and to everyone here."

"Who are you, young man, and what gives you the right to disrupt these proceedings?"

Joe was going to answer when he felt a gun pressed into his back. "Say anything, and we shoot your big brother."

Looking back, Joe could see that Hoss was no longer in the room. He turned to the judge. "I'm his brother and I was there." The man behind him jerked him backwards and out of the room then as he heard the sheriff address the court.

"Your Honor, he's a drifter who showed up in town this morning. He's been drinking, and as anyone can plainly see, he bears no resemblance to this man he claims is his brother. We'll take him to the jail and let him sleep it off. I'm sorry for the disturbance."

Brown caught Jane's eye briefly and nodded. It was on to plan two because their first plan had failed already. They were not going to let Joe say anything and had been far more prepared for him than they had anticipated. As expected, the jury returned a guilty verdict and Adam was sentenced to hang the next day. Wood for the gallows had been stacked in the street before the trial had even begun, and by the time Adam was walked back across the street to the jail, hammering and sawing were underway on the construction. Adam was dropped back onto his bare cot in the cell with Joe and Hoss then as men held guns on Hoss and Joe to keep them backed against the far wall of the cell until the door was locked again. Then the two brothers rushed to their older brother as the sheriff cackled a bit.

"I guess you thought we didn't know who you were. Mister Barrow did though. He knows all about your family. We thought your silver haired papa would be with you too. I guess he couldn't keep up. Well he better hurry if he wants to see his boys alive again. Ain't any of you leaving here upright."

As Hoss and Joe tended to Adam and tried to get him to respond, Hoss asked if they could have some water.

"Mister Barrow said no food and no water."

"Give them water now, Marks. I want him to know what's happening when that noose goes around his neck tomorrow. Give them all the water and food they want now." Standing behind Marks, Barrow was there to savor some of his victory. He planned to stop in a few more times that day and then to be there the next morning for every step of the way from that cell to the noose until Adam was swinging from the gallows. Only then would he feel that he had avenged his son's death. That he could eliminate two more of the Cartwright sons only added to his satisfaction. He guessed he could have them shot when he had Brown shot. He envisioned leaving their bodies for the vultures. He smiled. It made him look like one of those carrion eaters.

Chapter 8

At the courthouse, Brown had waited until everyone had cleared out before he followed in the direction the judge had gone. He found him packing up his robe and his legal books. "Your Honor, I'd like to talk with you about a legal matter if I could. It's very important."

"Well, I have to stay until the sentence is executed tomorrow. I guess if you would like to accompany me to lunch, you can tell me what it is that you think is so important."

"I will meet you at the restaurant for lunch. It's fairly important that no one see us together. My life is at risk, and if anyone sees us together, I'm afraid I would be putting your life at risk too. I'm sorry about that, but it's the way it is."

Pausing to study Brown, the judge nodded after a moment. "I have suspected that not all is legitimate about this case, but it is not my job to question the authorities in a community in this county when I am summoned to preside over a case. However, if you can give me any information that I can use, I may be able to do something."

"That's all that I ask, Your Honor. I'll do my best to give you something you can use to at least delay this hanging until others arrive who can do more."

"Very well, it is highly irregular, but I had some concerns about what I saw and heard in that courtroom today. I shall be at that restaurant within the half hour."

The judge was obviously a man of integrity and honesty. He was at that restaurant in a half hour as promised. He took a table and Jane served him a meal. When it seemed likely that no one was too curious about him, Brown walked in and sat at the next table. Jane served him a meal as well and he began talking explaining all he knew about the situation including the letter that Adam was supposed to have and that Joe was in fact his brother as was Hoss and that both were now sitting in the jail with Adam so that they could do nothing to stop the hanging.

"But why didn't the man speak up in court today? Why didn't he explain all of this to me? I would certainly have let his brother testify in his behalf and let him testify as well."

"I shot him." The judge was clearly shocked by that so Brown had to explain of course. "When I thought I was bringing in a criminal for trial, h e tried to escape. I shot him. The wound got infected, and even though I had a doctor take care of it for him, it's still a problem. I told them here that he needed medical care but they said he wouldn't need it. They figured on him hanging anyway. I saw by Saturday night that they had beaten him too, and from what we've learned, he probably didn't have any food or water on since I brought him in."

"So he was sick, beaten, and probably dehydrated in this heat. It's a wonder the man is still alive."

"He's a tough one. As far as we know, his father is seeking help from the state government and they have men coming to help them who should be here in a day or two. None of that will matter though if they hang him in the morning. Jane's got a story to tell too if you've got the time to listen."

Moving to the table as if to converse with a customer, Jane did a quick summary of what had happened five years earlier. Then she took the judge's empty plate to the counter and returned with the coffee pot pouring him a fresh cup.

"May I assume that you were afraid to testify in court today?"

"After what they did to Joe Cartwright, yes, I was."

"In a few minutes, I'm going over to the jail to take a look at the prisoner. I need to see for myself about some of what you've said. I don't want to be part of any miscarriage of justice, but I also have no reason at this point to believe you either." Jane and Brown were going to object, but the judge raised his hands to silence them. "I have always been taught that the law looks at both sides of any issue and follows the evidence. I will go take a look at the best evidence there is in this situation and that is the man himself. If what I see supports what you've said, a stay of execution may be the best course of action. I will make no promises nor state any conclusions until I have seen everything that I can see, but my doubts about how this case has proceeded are certainly greater than they were earlier. That's all that I can say at this time."

"Thank you. It's better than anyone else has offered here."

"I am surprised a bit though, Mister Brown, to find a bounty hunter with a conscience and willing to put his life on the line for a man who may be innocent. You could have taken your money and left town by now."

A bit embarrassed to admit it, Brown had to be honest. "Actually, I don't think I can. I don't think Barrow intends to let me ride out of here with that money. I've been followed and watched ever since I got that money. It's why I was so careful talking with you. You might be in danger too."

"He wouldn't dare do anything to a county judge."

"He had the former sheriff murdered."

"That's a very serious charge."

"And one that should be followed up once we get Adam out of this mess."

"If I assess the situation to be as you claim, then I will issue a stay of execution. However if you are correct, then my life may be forfeit too. Before we go any further, I would like some paper to write my final statement."

Both Brown and Jane were humbled by the extraordinary and dignified courage of the judge who calmly sat and wrote out his opinions of the case, of conclusions he had drawn so far, of the interview he had had with each of them with the information they had given to him, and his intention to go see Adam and probably issue a stay of execution until a more thorough investigation could take place. When he finished, he signed the paper and handed it to Jane.

"I assume that you will likely have a greater chance of surviving this unfortunate set of circumstances than either of us. Mister Brown is, by his own account if it is to be believed, already a marked man. I am inclined to believe him, and that makes me lean to the belief that if I issue that stay of execution, I may be marked as well. Please keep that statement safe. If what Mister Brown says is true, there will eventually be a convergence of men here in numbers sufficient to keep you safe. At that time, turn that letter over to the proper authorities."

By the way the judge stated that, both Jane and Brown knew that he expected to issue that stay and had a fairly good idea that it could mean his death. He did check his sidearm before leaving the restaurant, looked back at them, took a deep breath, and turned to head toward the sheriff's office.

In the sheriff's office, Hoss and Joe had done their best to help Adam, but what he needed was a doctor's care. His leg was clearly infected, and his fever was rising. He drank the water they gave him, but he wouldn't eat any of the food provided. What was more upsetting to both Hoss and Hoe was that he didn't seem to be aware of where he was. He asked for their father on several occasions. Delirium was claiming him. When Barrow stepped close to the cell to gloat, Hoss was furious with him.

"Ya made it so he couldn't even defend himself. You're torturing him worse than anyone would treat an animal. He never did nothing to you or nobody to deserve any of this."

"He murdered my son."

"He shot your son who was going to murder Joe here. Any man woulda done the same."

"Then any man would hang the same. No one kills a Barrow and gets away with it."

"I think that real soon you're gonna find out that ain't true at all."

"You're in no position to threaten me."

But Hoss had stood up and the much shorter Barrow backed away from the man who intimidated him even with the bars between them. He would have ordered Marks to have him beaten as well but was worried that his men might not be up to the task especially with the other young Cartwright in the cell too. He decided to leave well enough alone and take his revenge the following day. He was about to leave when Judge Hawkins entered the office without knocking and walked directly to the cell asking Joe to move to one side so he could get a clear view of Adam. The bruises were consistent with what Brown had said. Hoss and Joe had been sponging Adam to try to reduce the fever so his shirt was open showing extensive bruising on his chest and abdomen as well. It was clear that he had in fact taken a beating. Adam's eyes were closed.

"Is he conscious?"

"He hasn't said anything to us that makes us think he knows where he is if that interests you. He asks for Pa, but he doesn't seem to know he's in jail. I doubt he had any idea he was in a courtroom this morning."

"So he was likely not competent to be standing trial. He was not morose nor guilt stricken as I was led to believe. He was physically unable to know what was going on around him. I think I have enough now to justify a stay of execution. If I had any more evidence, I would vacate the verdict. I'm almost inclined to do it anyway, but I will not overstep the bounds of my office. However, I will be asking for a full investigation which will likely lead to that result."

Barrow was incensed. "You can't do that!"

"I most certainly can. I am issuing a stay of execution. There will be no execution of Adam Cartwright until I sign an order for it. Sheriff Marks, you will see to that. You took an oath of office to uphold the law."

"I'm the law in Barrow."

"Mister Barrow, you are not the law. You have presumed apparently to set yourself above the law. You have set up a sham of a case against a man to pursue your personal agenda. That is not acceptable. You have much to answer for in this situation. I suggest you hire an attorney."

Barrow stormed out of the office then leaving Marks to face Hawkins. "Sheriff, why are those two men in that cell with Adam Cartwright?"

"Mister Barrow said to lock them up."

"Then there are no formal charges?"

"No, I guess not."

"Release them."

"Ah, Judge Hawkins, Your Honor, sir, me and Joe would as soon stay here with Adam. I don't think he's likely to live long if we was to leave him."

"Very well. Sheriff, unlock the cell and allow these two men to attend the prisoner. They are now my clerks and are working for me. Is that acceptable to you two gentlemen?"

"It certainly is, Your Honor. Hoss and I will do a good job for you too. Can we wear our guns while we work for you?"

"Young man, you may do whatever you deem necessary to keep the prisoner safe. I'll write that out as well as the stay of execution as soon as the sheriff unlocks that cell and gets me some paper and a pen."

While Judge Hawkins wrote out the necessary papers, Hoss and Joe got their guns and then got a blanket for Adam and his boots. They did their best to make him comfortable and prepared to defend him if anyone came for him. Marks left as soon as he could, and the judge left when he handed the papers to Hoss and Joe for safekeeping.

"Take care, gentlemen. I fear none of us are safe in this town."

"Judge, I think you'd be safer staying here with us."

"Probably, but by staying here, I would also be drawing them directly to you. If anything happens, get him away from here."

With those words from the judge, Hoss and Joe knew that Judge Hawkins expected to die that night after seeing Barrow's reaction. The man was on a murderous rampage and logic and self-preservation apparently no longer mattered to him. He was consumed by his quest for revenge. It was only a few hours later that they heard a soft knock on the back door of the sheriff's office. Joe cautiously cracked the door open to ask who it was. Brown was there with Jane.

"You have to leave now. The judge is dead."

"Dead? They killed him?"

"Yes, he was run over by a freight wagon in the street, twice. A freight wagon fully loaded pulled by a six horse team at ten at night going hell bent for leather down the street: now that was an amazing thing, wasn't it? And gruesome." Jane didn't even like to hear Brown talk about it. She shuddered at the memory of the ghastly scene that Brown had described. "It seems that Barrow likes to send a message too when he kills someone. They're trying to make it look like an accident so Adam can hang in the morning, you two can disappear along with me, and no one can claim that anything illegal happened. They suspect help is on the way after what the judge said. They want to get this done by tomorrow morning, so c'mon, we gotta move fast."

"Adam can't walk."

"Then we'll carry him. We're going to Jane's house. We need to buy time, and it's the only place we can think to do that."

"They know about Jane. They'll search there when they realize we're gone."

"That's a part of the plan Jane didn't mention. We'll show you when we get there."

The small rough hewn home Jane had was one of the original buildings of Barrow and had existed before William Barrow had arrived and before Barrow was a town. The man who built it had been a trader who needed to hide his trade goods when he was gone. He had built secret compartments into his home and a small secret closet for larger items. It was that small room that was going to be used to save the lives of four men if they could all squeeze into its claustrophobia inducing quarters.

Slipping out into the darkness behind the sheriff's office, they could hear voices of men approaching and knew they had only a short time to make their escape. Moving as quickly as they could while still keeping as quiet as they could, they hurried to Jane's house. They weren't there yet when they heard yells and commotion behind them. They assumed it would take some time for Barrow to guess where they might go but they had to hurry. Adam was mostly a dead weight unable to help at all, but Hoss' admonitions to him that he had to be quiet seemed to work. He made no sound at all despite the fact that all the movement had to hurt. Apparently the familiar sound of Hoss' voice broke through his stupor and he followed the instructions of the closest friend he had in the world. When they got to Jane's house, she showed them the panel that pulled back, and they quickly moved into the dark space so that she could move the panel back into position. Then she took off her shoes and hurried to put on a nightgown without lighting a lamp or otherwise showing any indication to anyone that she was awake. In less than fifteen minutes, there were men banging on her front door demanding entrance. She lit a lamp and hurried to the door.

"What do you want? Why are you banging on my door in the middle of the night?"

"Cause that new friend of yours is missing and so are the Cartwrights. You got them hiding in your house here?"

"Mister Barrow, there are no men in my house that I can see. I only have this small house. I think if there were men here, I would be able to see them."

"Well of course you could, but I mean, well dammit, we want to search your house and see if those men are here."

"I only have the two rooms. If you think I somehow hid them in one of the rooms, feel free to look. Be sure to look under the bed. I don't think four men could fit under there, but you never know." Jane rolled her eyes and shook her head as if the men had bothered her with some fool's errand and disturbed her sleep for no reason. "I have to work early in the morning. I would appreciate it if you could hurry up and search everything so I could get back to sleep."

"You got a cellar?"

"No, but I have a necessary out back, and I have a wash table next to it. Perhaps you think they're hiding there. Honestly sheriff, all I did was talk to the man. Mister Barrow, I talk to all my customers. I need to get tips to support myself."

Still wondering a bit about her, Barrow and the sheriff had to admit there was no place for the men to hide in the two room house and with only a necessary, there was nowhere outside her house for them to hide either. Barrow ordered his men to get torches lit and to start a systematic search of the whole town.

"I want you to search every damn building in this town until we find them. That damn Cartwright is going to swing from that gallows tomorrow morning or someone else is going to take his place until he does. Somebody is hiding him and the others. If I have to, I'll hang some of the people here until the ones hiding him hand him over."

In the hiding space, the three men heard that chilling message and all three believed that Barrow would do it. They said nothing until Jane pulled open the panel when she was sure that Barrow and all of his men were well away from his house. They decided that they needed another plan to stop that monster from carrying out his dire threat.

Chapter 9

Before any planning could be done, Adam needed some intensive care. In the dark, they couldn't do what needed to be done, so they found a heavy wool blanket and covered the window in the bedroom so that no light could be seen. Then a lamp was lit, and Hoss finally got to take a good look at the wound in Adam's leg. He grimaced and asked if Jane had any alcohol in the house. She did have a small bottle so he asked next for boiling water and towels.

"I'm going to open this wound up one more time and drain it. It probably has something stuck in it that's causin' it to fester. Luckily it doesn't seem to have spread up the leg at all. The infection is still all in the leg, but it's makin' him real sick."

After setting a kettle of water to boil on the stove, Jane offered to help. Joe and Brown kept watch and brought the water when it had heated enough. Joe found that Hoss and Jane had stripped the filthy clothing from Adam and used cool water to bathe him, and he seemed to have recovered somewhat from that alone. The next part set him back though as Hoss opened the angry wound, drained it, and then flushed it with alcohol as Adam struggled not to scream with Joe holding his arms down and at one point forced to use his weight to press Adam down on the bed as he struggled to fight against what was being done to him. The cords in his neck stood out as he struggled to be silent and Hoss finally handed Joe a towel. He pressed it to Adam's face and whispered to him with some intensity that he could scream into the towel. He did and as he screamed, he startled Jane who had not expected that. Even though Adam wasn't very aware yet, he still seemed able to follow the instructions he got from his brothers.

"I'm almost done now, Adam. I got to bandage this up. Then you kin sleep."

Taking deep breaths as he tried to fight against the waves of pain still radiating from his leg, Adam didn't respond. Joe spoke soothingly to him as Hoss and Jane bandaged his leg. Then he fell asleep. Jane helped Hoss pull a light sheet over him after Jane used a dry cloth to wipe the slight sheen of sweat from his chest, arms, and face. Joe held his hand and talked to him trying to reassure him that he was no longer alone.

"The two of you must be very close to Adam. Even nearly senseless, he seemed to know who you were and do what you asked."

"We been through a lot together. I guess he knows we would never hurt him unless it was needed. We trust each other."

They waited through the night then occasionally seeing someone pass by with a torch or hearing yells and shouts, but no one came to the door again. Joe spent the night sitting beside the bed and holding Adam's hand. Hoss came up to him as dawn neared to tell him it wasn't his fault.

"I know you're blaming yourself. You see Adam hurting so much and you want to think if you had done things differently, he'd be fine. If it wasn't Barrow, it coulda been someone else. Adam's always gonna do what he thinks is right same as you and same as me. Pa taught us that a man ain't never wrong when he's doing what he thinks is right."

"But if I hadn't gotten in that fight in the saloon, Adam wouldn't have killed Billy Barrow, and he wouldn't be laying here suffering like this now."

"Joe, would you rather let him hurt that little gal?"

"No, of course not, but there must have been another way."

"Adam ever say that to you?"

"No, he never said much about it at all."

"There you go. You know Adam as well as I do. Ifn he thought you made a boneheaded play, you think he woulda kept quiet about it all this time? Course not. Like as not, he woulda done the same thing you done 'cept he mighta pounded on that little creep a mite harder. Now get those crazy thoughts outta yer head. You and Adam need some peace and some rest. We got lots of trouble to face without you making something out of nothing to worry on."

"Hoss, thanks."

"You ever thank Adam for what he done?"

"Yes, I did."

"Then you're all square. Now rest for an hour and then we gotta talk about what we're gonna do next."

In the morning light, it was relatively quiet until it seemed everyone was heading toward the center of town making them all wonder what was happening. That became the crux of their plan. They needed someone to go find out, and it was decided that Jane could go and that Joe could go with a little work on his clothing. Over his shirt, he put on an old shirt that Jane had found in the cabin from the previous owner. She had intended to make something from it but never had. He took Brown's hat and flattened it somewhat, and Jane found an old brown scarf that he tied around his neck. He wore Brown's right-handed pistol rig as the last part of his disguise. It wouldn't bear close scrutiny but should work in a crowd. Jane and Joe headed out then leaving Brown and Hoss to guard Adam and pray that the reinforcements they wanted were going to be there very soon.

When Jane and Joe reached the center of town, they were as shocked as most of the people in town had been. Barrow had ordered the gallows completed and standing on them, he had the town minister there with his hands tied behind his back and a rope around his neck.

"Now I am mighty tired of this man's sermons, and I know most of the time, he was aiming them at me and trying to stir up the town against me. I didn't do anything about it, because for one, it never worked, and two, he is a minister, but this has gone too far now. Somebody in town is hiding the man who murdered my son. They're hiding the men who helped that murderer escape too. If I don't have that murderer here in fifteen minutes to hang like he was ordered to hang, then the minister here is gonna get the rope he so richly earned. Then, I'll pick another one of you, and you'll get another fifteen minutes. I'll keep doing that until every man, woman, and child in this town is dead or I have that murderer. Is that clear? I sent for more men from my ranch. I've got enough guns in town right now to carry out my promise. Anyone doubt me, you only have to look around you to see the guns pointed at you right now."

Looking back, Joe and Jane saw at least twenty men with weapons pointed at them and the citizens of the town. Jane did something then that Joe wished she hadn't done but he had to admire her for doing it.

"What if every man here draws his weapon and points it at you. Your hired guns might kill a lot of us, but they won't do it before you die."

"These men don't have the guts to do that."

The men in the crowd may not have fought Barrow when they thought that by doing so, they would die. They had seen other men die, and they preferred to live. However, when you threaten a man's wife and especially when you threaten to kill a man's children, you put the threat in a whole new realm. Barrow had gone much too far. Joe pulled his weapon and switched it to his left hand to aim it at Barrow and suddenly there were more than a dozen weapons aimed at Barrow. Jane was correct. The gunmen could kill many of them but not before Barrow died. Barrow knew it too.

"You men put those guns down or I'll have to order my men to shoot."

"You do that, Barrow, and you die now."

"You're that Cartwright. You're the one who started all of this."

The argument might have gone a bit further except about twenty men rode into town then led by a silver haired gentleman flanked by several men wearing badges and followed by fifteen Ponderosa hands all carrying weapons. Joe whispered to Jane that it was his father and the cavalry had arrived.

"Hey, Pa, you arrived at the perfect time."

"Joseph, what is going on here?"

"Mister Barrow was about to hang the town minister because we won't tell him where Adam is, and his gunmen were about to shoot some women and children for the same reason."

Amazingly there were suddenly only a few gunmen left when Sheriff Marks looked to either side of him. The others had hurriedly left. The newly arrived posse began to ride after them as Joe and his father and the sheriffs and the chief deputies of the two closest towns in the county took custody of Marks and the gunmen who had remained. They surrendered without a fight. Barrow stood on the gallows wanting to do something and completely at a loss as to what to do. Joe climbed the gallows steps with his pistol out ready for anything but Barrow was apparently unarmed. He had other men to do the dirty work. Joe shoved him away from the minister and freed the man.

Down below, Ben looked up at his youngest son. "Joe, where are Hoss and Adam?"

It was Jane who answered first though. "They're at my house. I can take you there if you wish."

Joe looked down at his father from the platform of the gallows watching Barrow descend the steps to the waiting sheriff. "Go with her, Pa. This is Jane. She's been a big help. I'll stay here and tell these men what's been happening here. It's going to take some time to explain it all. We'll be coming to the house later too. Jane has some papers they'll want to see. Oh, and don't shoot the bounty hunter when you see him. He's been helping us too. He got fooled by this nasty piece of work."

"This is the man who sent that poster out on Adam?"

"It is."

Dismounting and stepping up to Barrow, Ben nearly lifted the man off his feet with a powerful uppercut that made his hand hurt but made his heart feel better. Then he turned to Jane. "Yes, I would very much like you to take me to see my other sons."

Barrow lay in the street with hatred in his eyes, but he was helpless to do anything. Joe looked down at him and turned to the sheriff who stood there looking down on the once powerful man who was now cringing in the dirt.

"He never should have taken on the Cartwrights."

The sheriff nodded. "I've heard of you folks. The reputation is well deserved." Then he nudged Barrow with his boot. "Get up. I don't want to get my hands dirty touching you." One of the townspeople came up and asked what they should do about the ugly gallows in the middle of town. "Leave it here for now. I think it's going to be needed very soon."

When Jane and Ben got to her house, Hoss and Brown wanted to know what happened. "Your father wants to see Adam. I can tell you everything that happened, and it's all good. But first, he needs to see Adam. Has there been any change?"

"Dadburnit, no. He's still out of it. He don't answer to nothing we say."

As they were talking, Jane was leading the way to the bedroom. Adam looked a bit better, but was very pale and noticeably thinner than when Ben had seen him last. He had a good beard too not having had a chance to shave in quite a while. It had been another reason he had looked so unkempt for the jurors during the trial. Even with the beard, like Hoss and Joe, Ben could see the bruises on his face and more on his arms and chest where it was not covered by the sheet. He moved quickly to Adam's side and touched his shoulder as he took his hand in his.

"Adam, son, it's Pa. Can you hear me?"

There was no response. Adam had slipped into a coma it seemed propelled by a number of factors. They needed to pull him out of it though so they could give him food and water because without those things, he might grow too weak and never regain consciousness. Hoss had expected that he would be conscious by now and had grown more and more worried as he failed to react. Seeing his father unable to get a reaction, he didn't know what to do.

"Hoss, how long has he been like this? He seemed to be getting closer to waking up when we left."

"And since then, no matter what I do, he slips down deeper and deeper. I tried putting a blanket on him to warm him. That didn't help. I talked to him real soft and soothing like. Nothing helps."

Jane stepped up next to the bed. "I think he needs a different approach. She sat on the bed and pulled the sheet down to Adam's waist surprising Hoss and nearly shocking Ben. She began to caress Adam's chest and tweaked his nipples as she leaned in and kissed him. She wasn't gentle with the kisses either. She pushed for him to respond to her. She hugged him and pressed her body against his. Ben was about to tell her that she should stop what she was doing when Adam moaned and turned his head from side to side. Jane took his face between her hands and spoke to Adam calling to him to come back to her, begging him to come back to her. His eyelids fluttered a little. About that time, Joe arrived and was as shocked as Ben or perhaps even more so to see Jane stretched out on the bed next to Adam and pressing her body against his, caressing him, kissing him, and speaking to him as a lover might call to a lover. As Adam slowly awakened, Jane cradled him to her chest as one might cradle her lover.

"Hoss, do you have that bottle filled with water?"

Once Hoss gave her the bottle, Jane cooed softly to Adam and coaxed him to drink. No one could complain about the success she was having. Adam was weak but obviously thirsty drinking all the water in the bottle. Hoss filled it again and Jane got him to drink a bit more before he was too tired to continue. She soothed him then telling him he could sleep a little but she would wake him soon so he could eat something. Then she gently settled his head back on the pillow. Looking up at the three Cartwrights, she shrugged.

"There's no doctor and no nurse in town. I've taken care of my share of men who've been hurt although usually they're strangers. It's the first time I've wanted a man to recover as much as I want Adam to be well."

As Jane cared for Adam then, Ben and his two younger sons did their best to clear up all the legal issues surrounding Adam as well as Joe and Hoss. Brown was invaluable to the authorities as was Jane when they came to the house to interview her. The papers left by Judge Hawkins were perused carefully, and citizens of the town came forward now that they no longer feared reprisals. Some of the men who worked for Barrow who were not implicated in serious crimes were allowed to testify in exchange for amnesty. Barrow was to be tried after only three days because the mountain of evidence against him was enough to easily convict. They had to wait for a judge to arrive from a neighboring county or the trial could have occurred even sooner. All appeared to be settled until a burst of gunfire broke out in the middle of the night startling everyone. Ben as well as Hoss and Joe were sleeping on bedrolls in Jane's house as she slept on a cot. What they feared was that the fight was going to come closer to them. With Adam slowly recovering, they didn't want anything to interfere with that. Adam called out for Jane and she went to him asking if someone could please cover the window as they had the first night in the house. It was an hour before they found out what had happened. One of the deputies arrived at the house with several of the Ponderosa hands.

"Barrow escaped. We should have known he gave up too easy that day on the gallows. He had a backup plan. He had held some of his men in reserve, and they rode in here and broke him out of jail tonight about the time nearly everyone was sleeping and we had all let our guard down. We won't make that mistake again, and neither should any of you. He'll want his revenge on all of you now."

Chapter 10

Several days later, Joe was apologizing to Adam for getting him into such a big mess and putting his life at risk. Adam basically repeated everything that Hoss had said but added more.

"I made a lot of mistakes, Joe. I should have taken someone to town with me. I shouldn't have tried to run. I shouldn't have taunted the sheriff here. I made things worse for myself in a number of ways. I'll own the mistakes, but I won't hang onto them just because I put a lot of blood and sweat into them. I'll forgive myself for them and move on. You need to move on too. There's no way you could have known five years ago what was going to happen. I didn't know it five weeks ago. We should have taken precautions. We didn't. Make it a lesson learned and move on."

"It's that easy for you?"

"It's been anything but easy for me, little brother, but I have had quite a bit of time to think about things."

"At least you get something out of it."

"Something?"

Looking out the door of the bedroom, Joe stared at Jane as she talked with Hoss and Ben before exiting the house on her way to get some things at the mercantile.

"I don't have Jane."

"What do you mean? Of course you do. She calls you sweetie and touches you on the cheek. She practically acts like you're married already."

Walking into the room, Hoss noted that Joe was looking almost angry, and Adam was looking surprised. "What's going on?"

Instead of an answer, Adam had a question. "Where's Pa?"

"He went down to see if they got any information on where Barrow is yet, and don't try that changing the subject thing with me. What's going on in here?"

"Joe thinks that Jane is in love with me."

"Nah, really? Geez, Joe, with the way she looks at you, I woulda thought you coulda figured it out by now."

"But she calls Adam sweetie and touches his cheek and leans in close to whisper to him and everything. She acts like she's married to him already."

"Aw, she only wants to make sure he's all right cause of what he done for her, and she's a woman. It comes natural to want to take care of a man who's hurting. She done all those things cause Adam needed 'em done. He wouldn't wake up for us. She was using them female type things on Adam to charm 'im into waking up, and it sure worked great."

"But whenever she's in here, she can't keep her eyes off of Adam."

"Of course not, Joe. She's seen me naked." Adam delivered the line with all seriousness, but the crinkles at the corners of his eyes gave it away to Hoss who began to guffaw and then bent over when he laughed so hard it hurt. With Hoss doubled over, Adam laughed too releasing some of the tension of all that had happened to him.

"If she had, she'd be more scared than anything." Joe fired one back and Hoss nearly fell down laughing then at the look Adam gave to Joe. A few jibes later, Joe headed outside to find Jane and profess his feeling for her hoping she felt the same. Hoss and Adam felt satisfied that they had done their best to play matchmakers.

"Now, you didn't have feelings for her, didja?"

"No, not like that. She's pretty enough, and likable, but there was nothing romantic in how we got along. No, it's all right for Joe. I have been thinking that there's a certain lady in Virginia City I ought to see about paying more attention though."

"I knew if you had time to think, you'd be planning something. Jest didn't think it would be that."

"Oh, I've been thinking about other things too, Hoss. I've had nothing but time to think for a few days now."

"Oh, lordy, now what?"

"I've been trying to think of what Barrow would do to try to get back at us. He might be going to the Ponderosa."

"What?"

"We came here and took away his little empire. Don't you think he might want to do the same to us and probably kill us in the process?"

Frowning in thought first, Hoss looked up at Adam after a few minutes. "You might be right, but you can't travel especially as fast as we'll need to go, and we can't leave you here alone."

"We'll talk it over with Pa and the others. There has to be a solution."

Ben had the same concerns as Hoss, but a telegram delivered from a neighboring town pushed them into having to make a decision. Barrow had been spotted in Placerville headed east. It was then that Joe provided the solution even if it was probably for some of the wrong reasons.

"I'll stay with Adam. You and Hoss can take all the men and head back to take care of the Ponderosa and any threat from Barrow. He won't be able to do anything against all of you and our friends there. A lot of this is my fault anyway so I ought to be the one to stay."

Getting frustrated with Joe trying to shoulder the guilt for what had happened, Adam was a bit brusque with him. "It's not your fault."

Knowing that the two brothers still had to work out that issue between them, Ben thought some time together with no pressure might help. "It isn't, but Joe knows more of what went on with this whole case so if the authorities have questions yet, he would be the logical one to answer them. If he's willing to stay, I endorse his idea. Hoss and I can handle things on the other end."

"I'll stay to help too, Mister Cartwright. I feel a bit guilty too about my part in this. Even though those authorities as you call them are willing to ignore what I did, I feel guilty about letting greed override my better judgment. I can make up for some of it by making sure he stays safe here." Brown had developed an odd sense that somehow Barrow was going to be wherever Adam was. It made no sense so he wasn't going to say anything, but he wasn't going to leave either until he knew Barrow was finished and buried because he had no doubt that was his final end. He watched later as Ben and the others rode out. Joe was helping Adam get dressed.

"You're uneasy." Jane stood by his side at her front door.

"I am. Barrow is that snake you don't see until you step on it, and then all you can say is 'Damn!' and hope that somehow you'll find a way to survive."

"Hopefully those men will catch him and take care of him so we can move on with our lives. I'll pray for that and for their safety."

"It's going to take a hell of a lot more than prayers, Jane. I'm sorry for the vulgarity, but it's how I feel about it."

"It's all right. It's where he's put so many of us for so long."

Over the next few days, Jane and Joe spent a great deal of time together, but Adam and Brown noted that Joe always wore his pistol and the couple was seldom far from Jane's house. There were times too that Jane and Brown talked about the situation in Barrow and what he thought would happen to the town now that the boss was gone. Adam was limping around better and better each day and starting to eat better so his strength was returning. He and Brown talked, played cards, and occasionally chatted or quietly read books that Brown had found at the mercantile. There were times when Adam and Joe spent time together but there was an edge to some of their conversations yet because of Joe feeling guilty and Adam irritated that he couldn't get Joe to let go of that. Sometimes all four of them played cards or chatted, and those were the most pleasant times for all of them. At dinner on the third night, Adam had to ask Joe what he was thinking because he knew something was bothering him.

"Adam, it bothers me that Barrow let himself be seen near Placerville. No one saw him for days and suddenly he's not only seen but seen so clearly that he can be identified quickly and the information sent to us."

"Anyone can make a mistake, Joe."

"But what if it wasn't a mistake? What if he let himself be seen on purpose so we would think he was going to Virginia City because he knew we would think he would want to go to Virginia City so then we would go to Virginia City only he really wanted to come back here and not go to Virginia City at all only he had to go as far as Placerville to make it look like he really was going to Virginia City because he knew you wouldn't be able to travel and he needed all the rest of us or most of us to be gone because you're the one he really wants so with almost everyone else headed back to Virginia City, he can come back here which is what he was planning to do all along and never intended to go to Virginia City at all?"

"Joe, you're making my head hurt and I wasn't even shot there."

Brown spoke up then though and agreed with Joe. "Adam, he's making sense. Think about it. The whole plan Barrow had was to get you. Wouldn't any plan of his continue to be that? He was obsessed with that for over five years. He's not going to give it up because it didn't work out this time."

"If that theory is correct, he was seen in Placerville well over three days ago. He could nearly be back here by now."

"We better get ready."

After alerting the neighbors and enlisting some help, Adam, Joe, and Brown thought they were as prepared as they could be. Joe and Brown were well armed and waited in the secret compartment of Jane's house. There were dummies of all of them in bedrolls, on the cot, and in the bed making it appear that they were sleeping. Adam was safely in the loft of a neighbor's small stable with a rifle and a pistol and a vantage position for anyone approaching the house. They left a lantern burning on the porch to give him clear silhouettes of anyone approaching the house if shooting started. Jane was with a neighbor to keep her safe, and a few others were keeping watch as well from their houses. No one in town wanted to see Barrow return, and news that he might be coming back had set them all on edge. Every man and woman there wanted to see him meet his Maker and spend eternity in Hell. Nothing happened until almost dawn when all of them were getting drowsy. Four men emerged from the darkness and ran into Jane's house smashing their way through the door. Gunshots were heard as they fired repeatedly into each of the dummies. Before they could leave, Joe and Brown emerged from the hiding space and got them by surprise. None of the men was Barrow.

"Where's Barrow?"

No one would answer so Joe and Brown disarmed them and tied them very tightly to chairs and then gagged them. All three of those men noted that Joe and Brown had an extra pistol tucked into the back of their pants. It seemed an odd thing to do, but it was a precaution that Adam had suggested.

"Now what, Joe?"

"Now we have to wait for his next move."

What they heard chilled Joe and Brown to their cores. It was Jane's plaintive cry of their names. They rushed to the door, and Joe would have raced outside except for Brown grabbing his arm.

"You go out there, and you're dead. Listen for what he wants."

"Cartwright, I got her. I got guns on that whole little family you stashed her with. You come on out here or she dies, and then one by one that family dies until you walk out here and get what you deserve. You got a minute."

Joe was chilled more hearing Adam's response that he was coming out but it might take him some time because he had to climb down the ladder by himself.

"You better hurry. Time's a wasting. You, in the house, let my men go too if they're alive, that is."

"They aren't." Joe lied but didn't think that would matter.

"Then you two come out here too. I don't like to leave any loose ends around."

Joe and Brown stepped out onto the small porch of Jane's home. Barrow told them to stop there and drop their gunbelts. They did. He sent a small boy from the house where he was to pick up the gunbelts. The boy was crying and shaking but did as he was told. Joe told him to take the gunbelts into Jane's house and stay there. Barrow heard him and laughed. Adam was emerging from the stable. Barrow told him to stop and drop his gunbelt as well. He did and Barrow sent another child, a small girl to get it. Adam sent her into the stable with it. Barrow laughed again.

"My, my, you have to be heroes to the end. You can't stop it, can you. I should tell you, I'll shoot them after I shoot you, but I won't. There's no point to it. I will probably shoot her, but first I'll take her with me and let the men have at her. If she survives that, I'll shoot her in the belly and let her die slowly. I wish I could do that to you, Cartwright, but I'm afraid I don't have that much time. It has to end now."

Barrow shoved Jane into the arms of one of his men and ordered him to hold her before he began advancing toward Adam. As he neared Adam, he sneered and paused to savor his victory a little. It unnerved him though that Adam didn't cower before him.

"You know, maybe if you cried or begged a little, I wouldn't kill your brother. Maybe I would let him live. I could gut shoot you and let you here to die slowly and painfully. He would suffer watching you die and not be able to do anything about it."

Adam said nothing. Frustrated, Barrow began to raise his arm to aim his pistol and to step closer to be sure to hit his target, but he never had a chance to do it. Adam drew the pistol he had behind his back and fired at close range but Barrow saw his move and jerked sideways to avoid the fatal shot. However Joe and Brown drew too from behind their backs shooting Barrow several times before he could aim. Barrow did fire once but the bullet went harmlessly into the dirt. Joe and Brown turned and took aim at the men who held Jane. One fired at them and they fired back. The other man fled. In the exchange of fire, Jane was hit and Brown ran immediately to her side. Joe turned to go to Jane too as Adam made sure that Barrow was dead. The mother ran to the stable to retrieve her daughter as the father went to the house to get his son. A large crowd was there in minutes helping to sort everything out.

Cradling Jane in his arms, Brown had checked and found that the wound did not appear to be too serious. She had gotten hit by a bullet that passed through her upper arm before striking the man behind her. It had nicked the bone though so it was extremely painful. Brown apologized profusely for hurting her, but Jane told him it was all right. Laughing, she said maybe it was Joe who shot her. Joe insisted that he was a better shot than that. She said it didn't matter as they had rescued her so that was what was important. Walking over to see how Jane was doing, Adam dropped his handkerchief into Joe's hand.

"Better bind that up and get her inside where we can see better. We'll get her fixed up quickly. And Joe, no need for you to carry any of that guilt any more. You saved my life out there. We're even. Right?"

Looking up at his oldest brother, Joe had to smile at the concern on Adam's face. "Right!"

It took several hours to clean up the mess. By then, Jane was so exhausted that she fell into sleep but the others found sleep didn't come so easily after all that had happened. Late in the morning, a group of citizens arrived and wanted to speak to Brown. He stepped outside and came back in later with a funny look.

"They just asked me to be sheriff here."

"Are you going to do it?" Joe was always curious and impatient.

"I don't know. I never thought about doing something like that before. I told them I needed some time to think about it."

Looking at him thoughtfully, Adam smirked. "You know what the answer should be, but you don't want to say it. Right and wrong are important to you."

"You can make mistakes, you know. You aren't always right."

"Oh, I know that. This has been one of those situations in which I have been wrong a lot, but I don't think I'm wrong about this one."

"Damn, you. You're not. I do want to say yes, but it's a scary thought."

"Scarier than riding around picking up strangers and dragging them through the wilderness to who knows where and wondering if you're going to have enough money for your next meal?"

"Well, no, not scarier than that." The two men laughed and Brown left to give his answer to the citizens and take an oath of office. He returned by dinner wearing a badge to tell them that he wouldn't be able to stay. He told them that he had rounds to make, and that the job included a house. The town had confiscated property belonging to Barrow and one of the buildings was designated now as the sheriff's residence as long as he held the job. He also got one meal a day, his dinner, to keep him in the center of town when it was the most dangerous with drifters and cowhands at the saloon.

Impressed by all of that, Jane gave him a big hug. He asked her when she was going to be back at work at the restaurant because he said people were asking about her. She smiled and said she hoped to be there within a few days. For the next several days, Jane seemed to put some distance between her and Joe. He didn't know why, but Adam took him aside to talk about it.

"Joe, how serious are you about Jane? I mean, are you serious enough to think about courting her and taking her back to the Ponderosa?"

"Adam, you're not my father. What's this all about?"

Sighing deeply, Adam asked Joe if he would please answer the question.

"If you have to know, I don't know. I thought maybe with a bit more time, maybe I could think about that."

"Joe, I think Brown is interested in Jane."

"Brown?"

"I think he isn't doing anything about it because of you. She may have some interest in him too especially now that he'll be here permanently. What do you think you ought to do about that?"

Pursing his lips and frowning, Joe had part of an answer ready. "You know a younger Joe would go over there and punch that Brown right in the mouth." Adam couldn't help himself and grinned. "But this older Joe knows better. If we were meant to be together, she wouldn't be looking around, now would she. I'll let her down easy and send her off to Brown. Does that sound about right to you, 'pa'?"

True to his word, Joe had a long talk with Jane. The next day, Adam and Joe were packed up and ready to head home. Sheriff Gene Brown came to say goodbye.

"You know, Adam, I am sorry about my role in this, but I'm not sorry about how it turned out for me. I wanted to be rich, and I let that seduce me into going along with Barrow's scheme. Now here I am rich in ways I never expected. I guess I learned what it meant to be rich. I have to thank you and your family and this community for teaching me what has value in this life."

"You take good care of Jane and your community and yourself. Keep in touch. Let us know what happens." With a big grin, Adam mounted up on his horse wincing only a little when that left foot hit the stirrup, but glad to finally be able to move freely and that was in every respect. He and Joe rode out of town and headed home.


End file.
